


Open All Night

by saddle_tramp



Category: Hawaii Five-0 (2010)
Genre: Angst, F/M, First Time, Het and Slash, Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-09-05
Updated: 2012-02-14
Packaged: 2017-10-23 11:39:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 61,664
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/249894
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saddle_tramp/pseuds/saddle_tramp
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Spoilers: Pilot episode through episode 5 “Nalowale”.<br/>Rating: NC-17<br/>Pairing(s): first time Danny/Steve, canon Steve/Catherine relationship, and Danny/Catherine friendship</p><p>Warnings: Sex while under the influence of alcohol, language, hurt/comfort, and angst</p><p>Summary: Danny went to Steve's that night to thank Steve for getting the Governor to talk some sense into his ex wife about their custody battle, but that’s not quite what happened. The next morning everything had changed between them and Danny had no idea how to deal with the feelings he could no longer make himself ignore, or the partner who didn’t seem to feel the same way.</p><p>Title from the song of the same name, “Open All Night” by Bon Jovi, which inspired this story, particularly the chorus:<br/><i>Baby, I don't want to fall in love with you,<br/>I try, try, try but I can't get around the truth.<br/>Please don't say my name, give this heart a break.<br/>I don't want to make the same mistake but it's too late.<br/>I'll leave on the light,<br/>These arms are open all night.</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Open All Night

 

The first time Danny Williams woke up in Steve McGarrett’s bed, he had a panic attack.

Okay, so maybe it wasn’t quite _that_ bad, he had seen people have panic attacks before, but the way his heart had leapt into his throat and his lungs stopped working _felt_ like a panic attack.

Danny had opened his eyes in the dim grey light before dawn to find himself face-to-nape with the back of a familiar neck. Steve was sleeping peacefully in his arms, and Danny didn’t even have the excuse of being too drunk to remember how he got there to help him deal with his morning-after panic.

That thought was followed by the memory that Steve _had_ been drunk, which meant that waking up with Danny in his bed might very well destroy their partnership, which Danny was just beginning to enjoy, and that was when Danny felt like his heart stopped. He had been a little buzzed by the time they stumbled up the stairs, sure, and it was his own fault he had ended up at Steve’s house the night before – Steve hadn’t even _invited_ him, Danny had just shown up with some Longboards after he dropped Gracie off – but he hadn’t _intended_ to fuck his very drunk boss.

Danny had been there to thank Steve for whatever he had said to the Governor to get her to talk Rachel into dropping her most recent threat not to let him see Grace, but like so many things with Steve, the evening hadn’t gone at all the way Danny intended it to.

 

~*~~~*~

 

Danny knocked on Steve’s door just after dark, and when there was no answer after a few minutes he tried the knob. It was unlocked, and Danny rolled his eyes as he opened it to walk inside the dimly lit house, muttering, “One of these days he’s going to wake up _dead_ if he doesn’t listen to me and lock the fucking _door_.”

Danny closed the door and locked it, then turned to head for the _lanai_. He figured Steve would be on the beach out back since he seemed to gravitate out there in the evenings, but he stopped when he saw Steve standing in the doorway that led to the _lanai_.

Steve was wearing nothing but dripping wet swim trunks and had a string of three good-sized fish in one hand, looking surprised even in the dim lighting shed by a single lamp on a side table near the kitchen doorway. The soft golden light made Steve’s tan look even more bronze than usual and set off the sheen of water on his skin, making every inch glisten almost as if Steve’s body had been oiled.

“Hey,” Danny said as he dragged his gaze back to Steve’s face, trying very hard not to look again at the acres of very nice, very _wet_ muscle Steve had on display. He lifted the six-pack of beer as he added, “I was in the neighborhood and thought you might want to help me finish these off.”

 _‘Seriously?!_ ’ Danny thought, fighting to control his expression as he realized what he had said. ‘ _What the fuck am I even_ saying _?! What happened to thanking him for getting Jameson to scare Rach off my back so I got to spend the weekend with my baby girl?!_ ’

Steve blinked and then smiled suddenly, wide and happy. “Sure, it’ll go great with the fish.” He turned away and started walking towards the kitchen, leaving a trail of wet droplets on the shining hardwood floors that Steve habitually kept spotless enough to eat off of.

Danny finally let himself look below Steve’s chin again, enjoying the play of lean muscle that rippled with Steve’s every move, his gaze lingering on the upper edge of the tribal ink on Steve’s lower back that peeked over Steve’s waistband while he committed the sight to memory. Steve had featured prominently in his dreams pretty much since they met, but it had only been during the last week or so that Danny had admitted to himself why. He still wasn’t sure what to do about it, but he was starting to adjust to the idea that he enjoyed looking at his partner a lot more than he should.

Steve took only a few steps before Danny’s eyes narrowed as he noticed how different Steve’s gait was from his usual confident, quick walk. Steve was very loose-limbed as he ambled slowly into the kitchen, surprisingly graceful and coordinated even though Danny was suddenly sure Steve had already had quite a bit to drink.

Danny followed Steve to the kitchen doorway, stopping there to watch Steve rummage in a drawer for something with only the dim moonlight coming in the kitchen windows to illuminate whatever it was. There was an empty tequila bottle on the counter by the sink, and Danny had to bite back the questions that wanted to come tumbling out as he resisted the impulse to ask Steve what was wrong and said instead, “Lemme guess. You caught the fish with your bare hands just to prove to yourself that you could.”

Steve let out a little huff of a laugh, taking a wicked looking narrow-bladed knife out of a drawer and then closing it as he moved back towards Danny. “I caught the fish a couple hours ago with a fishing pole, Danny, not my bare hands. I just went for a swim after to clear my head. They’ve been waiting on a stringer for me to get ready to cook them.”

Danny moved back to let Steve pass by him and then followed Steve out onto the _lanai_ , not really surprised to see Steve had some of the tiki torches lit to provide light and drive away the resident mosquito population. It wasn’t dark yet but it would be soon and the mosquitoes had been out for most of an hour, ready to carry off anyone foolish enough not to use some kind of repellent.

Steve moved to lay the fish on the small worktable by the grill and then trotted off towards the two chairs out on the sand as he said, “I’ll get the cooler. There’s still enough ice to keep the beer cold.”

Danny moved to sit at the small picnic table where he’d be able to watch Steve work, putting the six-pack down and then snagging a beer and opening it on the edge of the table before he settled back comfortably. He was ready to relax and just enjoy the view while Steve cooked him dinner, but he was reluctant to admit that. “Okay, but I wasn’t planning to stay long enough to finish it all.”

Steve was carrying the small cooler back by then, and he looked surprised as he frowned. “Why not?”

Danny blinked, a little surprised by the question, and then pointed out slowly, “Because it’s nearly nine and I’ve got work in the morning, just like you do.”

Steve grinned suddenly, wide and happy. “Eh, your boss is a nice guy. He won’t mind if you go in a little late.” He put the cooler down with a thump and then opened it, letting Danny see that there was already one full beer and five empties inside. Steve switched empties into the six-pack Danny had brought to make more room in the cooler for the full bottles as he added, “Stick around, it’s early yet.”

Danny was still trying to get to know Steve in a lot of ways, but they had shared a few beers on the beach behind Steve’s house since they met, and Danny knew Steve never left the cooler unattended down by the chairs for more than a few minutes at a time if it had beer in it because one of the neighbors he shared a beach with had a couple of kids. Steve wasn’t very good with kids from what Danny had seen – mostly, he was sure, because Steve had hardly ever been around them – but Steve had made it plain one night while they were sharing a couple beers that he wouldn’t risk leaving any alcohol where a kid could easily get to it.

That meant that Steve had put away the five empties in the cooler recently, besides whatever had been in that empty tequila bottle in the kitchen, and knowing that made Danny wonder even more about Steve’s state of mind. Steve seldom drank anything stronger than beer unless he was in a bar and someone else bought him a drink, so the fact that Steve had been alone drinking tequila was enough to make Danny worry that maybe Steve’s iron-hard control of his emotions wasn’t quite as complete as he had thought.

Four beers was enough to get Steve smiling from what Danny had seen, and six beers with the team at a little sports bar near headquarters had been enough to make him act disturbingly like a hyper Lab puppy, all goofy and adorably playful. Five beers _plus_ tequila seemed like it should not have Steve merely relaxed, but Danny found himself enjoying this laid-back vaguely happy side of Steve anyway, whether it made sense or not. Steve was seldom so obviously relaxed and content, at least that Danny had seen, and after a few moments he found himself starting to worry that maybe having him around would destroy Steve’s good mood.

Danny wasn’t really thinking as he asked quietly, “You sure you want me to stay?”

Steve looked at Danny, surprised but with something in his eyes that made Danny suddenly feel a little warm as Steve said quietly, “I _always_ want you to stay, Danno. You’re welcome here anytime, day or night, I’ve told you that.”

“How many times I gotta tell you to stop calling me that?” Danny asked, more out of habit than any real heat as he fought not to let himself read anything into Steve’s words. “That’s between me and Grace.”

Steve gave him a crooked little smile, his blue-grey-hazel eyes dark and sparkling in the flickering light of the tiki torches. “How about this? I won’t call you Danno again tonight if you stay and help me finish off this beer.”

Danny was so pleased by the fact Steve wanted his company that he couldn’t have made himself say no if he wanted to. “You got a deal,” he murmured, smiling at Steve as he lifted his beer. He had known Steve liked him, and that they were starting to be good friends, but he hadn’t realized until that moment that maybe he wasn’t the only one feeling a little more than he was supposed to feel for his partner. Of course, Danny had been so busy freaking out that he wanted his _male_ partner that he probably would have missed a hurricane if it didn’t get him wet, but that was beside the point.

Steve’s smile widened into a sudden beaming grin that made him look ten years younger. “Awesome.” He snagged a beer and let the cooler lid fall shut. “How hungry are you?”

Danny had seen Steve happy before, even seen a hint of that goofy grin a time or two, but that was the first time he had seen such a wide-open, completely _delighted_ expression on Steve’s face. It did funny things to Danny’s heart and made him want to do something truly stupid, like walk over to Steve to drag him down into a kiss. He squashed the impulse ruthlessly, reminding himself that Steve was a walking wet dream, sure, and Danny might have spent a little quality time in the shower thinking about Steve fucking him that one time, but Steve was still not only a military man but also his _boss_ and Danny was not going down that road unless Steve was leading the way. Steve had shown no inclination to do that yet, so Danny was pretty sure it wasn’t going to happen.

“I ate with Grace,” Danny admitted, pleased that having him around could make Steve so happy even though he wondered if Steve would have been just as glad to have Kono or Chin there to keep him company.

Steve was a tough man who seemed emotionless most of the time, and Danny teased him about not having feelings like normal people, but he was starting to realize that Steve just _hid_ his feelings better than anyone Danny had ever known. There had been a few times that Danny had caught glimpses of the softhearted, lonely man that Steve fought so hard to hide, and he hoped that as they grew closer he’d be allowed to see even more of the real Steve instead of just the confident mask that Steve usually showed the rest of the world.

Danny noticed that Steve looked a little disappointed and added impulsively, “That was hours ago, though. We grabbed tacos on the way home from Rascal’s.” He remembered that Steve had been the one to send him the link for the Rascal’s website on Friday morning, which prompted him to add, “Thanks for telling me about that place, by the way. She loved it.”

“I knew she would.” Steve’s goofy, happy grin returned as he rapped the cap off of his beer on the edge of the table and then turned away to walk over to where he had left the fish as he took a long drink of beer, putting the bottle on the worktable before he looked over his shoulder at Danny. “You want a whole fish, or would you rather split one with me?”

“What’re we having with it?” Danny asked, smiling even though he had to fight himself to keep his gaze above Steve’s shoulders.

“I can make a salad or something, I guess,” Steve said slowly as he turned around a little more to look at Danny. “I was just going to eat fish tonight. They’re best if you cook them fresh out of the water, and I only caught three.”

Danny let out a little snort of a laugh. “Just cook the fish, then. What we don’t eat will keep.”

Steve’s expression relaxed into a pleased smile again as he nodded and turned back to the worktable to start cleaning the fish.

Danny watched the back of Steve’s head until he was sure Steve didn’t have anything more to say, then finally let his gaze roam down over Steve’s back, lingering again on the black ink above the waist of Steve’s trunks as he took a slow drink of his beer. Steve was the first guy he had ever known that had a tramp stamp at all, much less one that stretched all the way across his back and looked like it just might taper into an arrow pointing at his ass like an invitation.

Danny still hadn’t gotten up the guts to ask what the story behind the tattoo was, or any of Steve’s other tattoos for that matter, but he had a feeling the tramp stamp was probably the result of one _hell_ of a shore leave.

 

~*~

 

Danny looked over at Steve as he idly picked a bit of meat off of the carcass on the plate in front of him, amused by the fact Steve had almost finished two fish in the time it took Danny to eat one. Steve ate a lot better than Danny did, at least as far as how healthy his meals were, but Danny figured Steve did it out of a kind of twisted guilt over how _much_ the guy ate when he finally remembered that he needed food to live. Steve often skipped meals altogether unless someone reminded him to eat, but when he _did_ eat he could put away enough to feed a small family.

“Did you eat at all today?”

Steve turned his head quickly towards Danny, smiling even though he suddenly looked sheepish. “I had some fruit for breakfast.”

“What were you doing all day?” Danny asked, curious and amused.

Steve shrugged a bit, turning his attention back to his fish. “Nothing much. I just kind of forgot about lunch.”

“It’s no wonder you always look like you haven’t eaten in a week,” Danny said with a little huff of a laugh.

Steve looked at Danny again. “I’m not that skinny.”

Danny grinned at him, glancing down to pick out a bit of the tender white flesh from the cheek of the skeleton on his plate and then popping it in his mouth as he looked at Steve again. “If my Ma got a hold of you, she’d feed you pasta and cheesecake and meatball subs and _huge_ breakfasts for a solid _week_ before she let you leave her house again, and you’d have her calling you for months after that wanting to know if you were eating right.” He grinned. “And according to Ma, living off salads, fruit, and fish isn’t eating right. That’s diet food.”

Steve looked kind of surprised and a little wistful. “I guess I shouldn’t visit your mom then.”

“You’d enjoy it, you’d just gain a few pounds,” Danny disagreed, smirking as he finally pushed his plate away a bit and settled back into his chair again. He grabbed his beer, taking a drink from the nearly empty bottle before he added impulsively, “You should come with me when I go visit after Christmas, there’s plenty of room in the house. Everyone has their own place now except Meg, and she’s off at college again.” He grinned at the thought, proud of his baby sister as he added, “MIT this time. She got invited into some theoretical mathematics program that she couldn’t turn down.”

Steve just watched Danny for a few moments before he smiled slightly and looked back down at his fish to go back to methodically dismantling it. “I wouldn’t want to intrude.”

Danny rolled his eyes. “I wouldn’t invite you if I thought you’d _intrude_. Ma’s been asking me when she’ll get to meet you, so she’d jump on the chance to have you in one of the spare rooms for a few days where she can grill you herself to see if you’re the right guy to watch my back.” Steve gave him a surprised, slightly wary look, and Danny grinned widely. “Dad was a fireman for twenty-seven years, and Mom’s brother Michael’s been a cop longer than I’ve been alive, just like their dad, so Ma’s had a lifetime to decide exactly what she thinks a good cop is.”

Steve’s eyes widened. “I’m not a cop, I’m a _SEAL_.”

Danny’s grin just widened. “Uncle Dan was a Green Beret that died in the seventies during some war in Columbia that no one was supposed to know was happening.”

Steve rolled his eyes. “Green Berets aren’t anything like SEALs, Danny. They’re _Army_ , not _Navy_ like me.”

“Eh, Army, Navy, same thing,” Danny said with a wave of his nearly empty beer. “It’s all military.”

Steve let out a surprised little laugh. “You’d throw a _fit_ if I said something like that about you.”

“Nah,” Danny disagreed, still smirking even though he was a little surprised Steve wasn’t more annoyed yet. Usually all it took to get him fired up was to say something about him being in the Army. He figured the slow reaction could probably be blamed squarely on all the alcohol Steve had had and Steve’s tendency to be a goofy, easy-going drunk. “I don’t mind being compared to other cops.”

“Oh, so, a Jersey cop is just the same as one from New York or Hawaii?”

Danny blinked, surprised and then frowning slightly. “Well, _no_. Half the cops in New York _and_ Hawaii are turning a blind eye to people doing shit they’ve got no right to get away with. In Jersey we’ve got one in twenty turning a blind eye to the bad guys, tops, and not even that many in the good precincts. In my six years on the force in Newark, there were only _two guys_ that went bad.”

“But they’re all cops,” Steve pointed out. “By your logic that means you’re all the same.”

Danny scowled. “I am _nothing_ like a crooked cop.”

“And I am _not_ in the Army,” Steve countered. “It’s a totally different thing. You have to be _smart_ to be an officer in the Navy, and you have to be one of the best all-terrain soldiers in the _world_ to be a SEAL. In the Army, you just have to be too stupid to get out and too lucky to die before they promote you.”

That startled a laugh out of Danny. “You’re so full of shit.”

“I wish,” Steve said with a slight edge to his voice that made Danny realize he was completely serious. “I’ve had to work with soldiers from _all_ the branches of the military, and they’re _not_ the same. SEALs always pull their weight and then some, and I can work with a Marine watching my back and not have to worry too much, and even the Green Berets are decent enough soldiers, I guess, but I’d rather go into a war zone _alone_ than have to rely on anyone in the regular Armyto keep me alive. It would _terrify_ you if you knew how many of the soldiers who die in wartime were shot by guys who were supposedly on their side.” He let out a little snort. “I’ll work with a SEAL or a Marine any day, gladly, but the grunts and the flyboys need to just stay out of the way and let the professionals handle it.” He stood suddenly, picking up his plate as he changed the subject just a bit pointedly. “You done with your fish?”

“Yeah, I am,” Danny agreed quietly as he moved to hand Steve his plate, surprised and feeling kind of concerned. He gave Steve shit about being in the Army all the time and Steve always fussed at him, sure, but he hadn’t ever gotten _upset_ about it before.

Usually getting Steve to talk about the military at all was like pulling teeth, and Steve saying something _negative_ about other soldiers, even ones in the Army or Air Force, wasn’t something Danny had heard at all before. It made him wonder if maybe Steve had gotten bad news about a friend that had prompted his drinking spree that evening, but he wasn’t sure he had the right to ask so he stayed silent. If someone Steve cared about had just died in a friendly-fire incident, it would explain a lot about the whole evening.

Steve headed into the house with their plates and the carcasses of the three fish, returning after a minute or two with a small nylon bag. He stopped near the table to look at Danny as he said quietly, “I’ll be right back. Don’t go anywhere yet, okay?”

Danny nodded. “Okay.”

Steve trotted off towards the water without another word, the nylon bag dangling from his right hand.

Danny just watched him go, letting himself admire Steve’s perfect body even as he wished he knew what to do or say to convince Steve that he really could talk to him. Sometimes he felt like Steve did, like maybe he was seeing and hearing more of the _real_ Steve than anyone else did, but other times he still felt like Steve had that foot-thick iron wall firmly in place between them, shutting Danny out and only letting him see what Steve wanted him to see.

 

~*~

 

Danny sipped at the last of his beer, sprawled in his usual chair down on the beach as he watched the moon on the waves. He was barely buzzed after three beers, but even though he knew he could drive safely home, he wasn’t planning to do it. He knew Steve would be glad to let him sack out in one of the two extra beds upstairs so he hadn’t bothered to break the companionable silence he and Steve had been enjoying for the last hour or so to ask. Steve had been relaxed again by the time he got back from swimming out to dump the bones of their dinner along the reef for the crabs and scavenger fish, and Danny was too glad to see the return of Steve’s smile to risk saying the wrong thing and upsetting him again.

“Stay with me tonight,” Steve suddenly blurted.

Danny looked at Steve in surprise, wondering what brought that on. He hadn’t made even the slightest effort to leave so there was really no reason for Steve to be worrying he would, which made him curious about what was going on in Steve’s head. "Why?”

Steve’s only reply was moving out of his chair to grab Danny’s face between his hands, gentle despite the speed he moved with, and Danny barely had time to realize what was going to happen next before Steve’s lips met his.

The kiss wasn’t anything like Danny thought it would be, gentle and so very careful instead of the kind of dominating kiss he would have expected from a guy with Steve’s obvious confidence in himself, and that made it impossible for Danny to resist. He tried not to respond, mindful of how drunk Steve was and how out-of-sorts he had been since Danny got there, but it was a losing battle. Steve was acting as if he wanted to spend the next several hours savoring the feel of Danny’s lips against his, and Danny’s willpower only held out for a few moments before he let out a soft noise and dropped his beer bottle to free his hands.

Danny reached up to palm the back of Steve’s head with one hand as he tried to deepen the kiss, his other hand moving to Steve’s waist and then around to his back to urge him closer. Steve didn’t hesitate, letting out a low needy noise into Danny’s mouth as his lips parted to let Danny explore, and then his knees slid into Danny’s chair along the outside of Danny’s thighs, left and then right in quick succession. Steve settled into Danny’s lap like it was where he belonged, and Danny let out a low groan at the feel of Steve’s body against his. Steve was hard and muscular in all the places Danny was used to a woman's softness, and he barely registered the way his hands tightened against Steve’s back and neck, wanting Steve even closer.

Danny finally realized what he was doing after a few moments and made himself break the kiss as he mentally cursed himself for a fool, gently pushing Steve away. He forced himself to meet Steve’s gaze even though he kind of just wanted to get the hell out of there, and what he saw made his heart clench in his chest. Steve’s eyes were dark in the moonlight and hard to read, but the expression on his face was enough to make Danny realize he finally knew what frightened Steve.

Danny moved his hands to rub Steve’s muscular back slowly, trying not to think about how good it felt to touch him as he murmured softly, “Babe, it’s not that I don’t want this, because I do.” Steve relaxed, obviously relieved, which made Danny feel like shit as he added even more quietly, “But no matter what I _want_ , I can’t help but think this is a _really_ bad idea.”

Steve just gazed into Danny’s eyes for a long moment before his gaze fell and he started to pull away, looking devastated and a little ashamed. “Right. Of course it is. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have—“

The look on Steve’s face made Danny want to kick his own ass, and he tightened his grip on Steve without even stopping to think, making Steve break off and look at him in surprise and confusion.

“You’ve had a hell of a lot of alcohol tonight, Steven,” Danny said very quietly. “Can you _honestly_ tell me this isn’t just about you being drunk and horny?”

“It’s not! I swear,” Steve replied quickly, flushing so red that Danny could see it even in the dim moonlight. “The alcohol may have helped me get up the nerve to do something about it _now_ , but I’ve wanted this for a while.”

“How long?” Danny asked softly, trying not to let himself hope for something he was still more than a little afraid to want.

Steve was still blushing, but he met Danny’s gaze without flinching as he murmured, “Since the day you found me in the garage, messing with your evidence.”

Danny looked searchingly into Steve’s eyes for a long moment and then half-asked, “So there will be no freaking out in the morning and firing me? ‘Cause I’m just starting to like my job and I kind of want to keep it, plus there’s the whole thing with me crossing lines I didn’t think I’d ever cross, here.”

“I will _never_ fire you,” Steve said, quiet and firm and very certain, and Danny couldn’t believe it was anything but the truth. He relaxed slightly and then Steve added, “And no gay panic in the morning when I sober up. I haven’t had sex with a guy in a long time, but I’ve done it all before. This isn’t anything new to me.” He paused and then looked down as he admitted softly, “Well, it’s new for me to make the first move to do something about it, but me being into guys sometimes is nothing new.” He lifted his gaze to Danny’s again then, looking surprisingly vulnerable and a little scared as he murmured, “Usually I can make myself ignore it when I want someone I work with, but it’s different with you.”

Danny looked into Steve’s eyes a moment longer and then muttered, “God, I’m gonna regret this.” He didn’t give Steve a chance to say anything else, pulling him down into another kiss, and he groaned softly at the way Steve melted against him, freely letting Danny take control for the first time since they met.

Danny just enjoyed kissing Steve and running his hands over Steve’s body until Steve suddenly pulled away, breathing a bit fast as he looked down and began quickly unbuttoning Danny’s shirt, ignoring the tie as he muttered, “You are wearing _way_ too many clothes.”

Danny smiled suddenly, loving how _eager_ Steve was to get him naked. “Does that line ever actually work?”

“It’s not a line,” Steve protested without looking up from unbuttoning Danny’s shirt. “It’s the _truth_. You need to be more naked.”

“No, I don’t,” Danny murmured, still smiling a bit. “I don’t intend to fuck you right now.”

Steve looked up with a sudden frown, his fingers going still. “You don’t?”

“No, I don’t,” Danny said, amused by how obvious Steve was about not wanting to hear that. “If we’re doing this, then I intend you to be all spread out in that big bed of yours upstairs so I can take my time and enjoy it.”

Steve licked his lips, obviously thinking about that, and then suddenly he was scrambling out of Danny’s lap and reaching to grab his hands. “Great idea. C’mon.”

Danny laughed and let Steve drag him up out of the chair, and then Steve was towing him towards the house almost fast enough to call it a run.

 

~*~~~*~

 

Danny swallowed hard, pushing away his memories of how touch-starved and _needy_ Steve had been the night before as he tried very hard not to think about how good his morning wood felt nestled against the firm curves of Steve’s ass.

Steve had promised several times not to panic or even get mad at him when he sobered up, and Danny actually believed he had been sincere. It made Danny’s own panic so ridiculous that he couldn’t help but silently acknowledge the irony of it even as he was strongly considering _running_ from the room. His clothes were all downstairs anyway, scattered from the back door to the bottom of the stairs where Steve had pushed him against the wall and stripped away his boxers so he could taste Danny’s cock, and the urge to flee was so strong that Danny was practically vibrating with it.

Steve’s hand suddenly moved to cover Danny’s where it rested on Steve’s chest, tangling their fingers together as Steve murmured softly, “Go back to sleep, Danno.” His voice was low and a little rough but he sounded wide awake and very sober, and it made Danny close his eyes as he realized Steve had probably been awake the whole time he had been silently freaking out. “We don’t need to leave for an hour and a half.”

“I should go,” Danny blurted, a little too loud and too fast. “I just… Yeah.” He started to pull away from Steve, trying unsuccessfully not to freak out even more over how hard it was to make himself let go of Steve. “I need to go home,” he added, aware he was babbling but completely unable to stop it. “Get cleaned up and find some clothes for today, that kind of thing.”

Steve rolled to his back to look at Danny, frowning slightly as he reached for Danny’s arm and held on to keep Danny from leaving. “You have a change of clothes in your trunk. You always do.”

“They’re all wrinkled,” Danny said quickly, not meeting Steve’s eyes. “I’m not going to work looking like I slept in my car. You may think cargoes and t-shirts are fitting work attire, but I want to look like a professional.”

Steve’s grip tightened a little on Danny’s arm. “I have an iron, and I don’t mind using it.”

“No, I’ll just go home, get some fresh clothes,” Danny said quickly, still not looking at Steve. “The ones in the trunk probably smell like exhaust.”

“Look at me, Danny.” Danny made himself meet Steve’s gaze, feeling like shit when he saw the confusion and worry in Steve’s eyes. “Are we okay?” Steve asked softly.

“We’re fine, babe,” Danny replied, feeling a little of the panicky need to flee fading in the face of Steve’s anxiety. If he was upset by Danny wanting to leave, it could only mean he still wanted Danny in his bed even though he was sober, which was good. “I just— I need some time to clear my head, okay? It’s been a long time since I let myself get this close to anyone, and it’s a lot for me to process. Last time really didn’t turn out so well. I mean, I've got Gracie now and I'd _never_ change that, but I went through hell when Rachel met me at the door one day with my suitcase and said she and Grace would be leaving within the week.” He tried to smile, but he knew he was failing miserably. "I hadn't even known she was cheating on me until after Stan told her to divorce me or it was over."

Steve’s grip on his arm relaxed slightly at that and he looked relieved as the expression in his eyes shifted to something gentle and warm. “I guess I can understand that.” He licked his lips, his gaze flicking to Danny’s mouth, and then he added softly, "I'd never do that to you, though." He met Danny's gaze again, just gazing into his eyes, and then Danny was leaning over Steve and kissing him without any recollection of deciding to do it.

Steve let out a low pleased hum as he moved his hand to tangle his fingers in Danny’s hair, tilting Danny's head as they deepened the kiss, and then suddenly Danny found himself on his back on the bed with Steve on top of him and kissing him like he was going to eat Danny alive. Danny shuddered at the way it made him feel to have Steve’s heavy body pinning him to the bed, all muscle and sleek smooth skin marred by scattered scars left by the hard life Steve led. It was nothing like having a woman pin him down, but it felt so right, so _good_ , that Danny knew he wanted it to happen again and again.

Danny thought he could probably get away, though more because Steve would let him than because he could _make_ Steve let him go, but getting away was suddenly the last thing he wanted to do. He arched under Steve instead, thrusting up against Steve’s belly and enjoying the contrasting sensations of Steve’s body hair causing just the right amount of friction against his cock while the smooth hot length of Steve’s cock nudged against his belly, not quite lined up with his own.

Steve groaned into Danny’s mouth and shifted his hips as he slipped a hand between them to close it around both of their cocks, holding them loosely as he began to move, thrusting slowly into his fist so his cock slid deliciously along Danny’s. Danny let out a soft little noise that most definitely was not a whimper, ending the kiss with a gasp as he threw back his head and moved both hands to Steve’s ass to squeeze and urge him to move faster or harder or _something_ , unable to gather his wits enough to put what he wanted into words even in his own mind.

Steve didn’t hesitate to oblige Danny’s wordless plea, trailing soft little nibbling kisses along Danny’s jaw to his ear before he murmured, “You’re so fucking sexy under me like this, Danny.” He ducked to nuzzle Danny’s throat, licking into the hollow where Danny’s collarbones met as his thumb rubbed slowly over the head of Danny’s cock, then he whispered against Danny’s skin, “I want to taste every. Single. Inch. Of you.”

Danny jerked under Steve, thrusting harder into Steve’s hand as he gasped, “Fuck, Steve!”

“Mm, yeah, that too,” Steve purred, his voice little more than a low growl. “When I do, I’ll make it so good for you, you’ll forget everything but my name.” He began trailing slow sucking kisses along Danny’s collarbone towards his right shoulder.

Danny moved his hands up to Steve’s shoulders to hold on there as Steve tightened his grip on their cocks and began moving his hand faster. Danny groaned softly, hardly aware he was moving as he shifted to wrap his legs around Steve’s hips, pressing their bodies even closer together as he felt the familiar heat and tension of an impending orgasm start to build and whispered, “Yeah, babe, like that.”

Steve groaned and his hips jerked a little harder as he whispered into Danny’s ear, “Next time, your perfect ass is _mine_.”

Danny was a little shocked at himself as he realized he wanted that too, wanted to feel what it would be like to have Steve’s cock driving deep inside him even though he hadn’t ever let another guy do him before, hadn’t ever even _wanted_ to. He was barely aware he was speaking aloud as his legs tightened around Steve’s hips and he gasped out softly, “God yeah.”

Steve moved suddenly to capture Danny’s lips in a wet, hungry kiss, his hand moving quickly between their bellies as he jerked them off, and then Danny came with a whining groan, hips jerking erratically with every stuttering thrust into Steve’s suddenly slick hand. Steve broke the kiss with a soft surprised grunt then, gasping for breath against the side of Danny’s neck as his body went rigid and very still, his cock throbbing against Danny’s in the almost too-tight grip of Steve’s hand.

After a few moments Steve released their cocks and seemed to go boneless as he shifted slightly to the side, pulling his hand from between them to wipe it on the sheets. They were both breathing like they just ran a mile, bodies slick with sweat and come, and they just laid there together while Danny relaxed and tried to gather his scattered wits, his legs still tangled around Steve’s and his cheek brushing Steve’s ear. Steve was holding Danny close as he nuzzled into the damp hair behind his ear, and Danny wondered what Steve was thinking as they laid there together.

Danny’s breathing had barely settled back to normal by the time he realized that he didn’t really want to leave anymore, wanted in fact to stay there in Steve’s bed and his arms as long as he could. The thought worried Danny almost as much as the knowledge that if Steve truly wanted to fuck him, Danny wouldn’t be able to say no. His only serious girlfriend in college had used a strap-on to fuck him fairly often and proved to him just how much he liked it, but Danny had never let anyone else do it. It just hadn’t been the kind of thing he talked about with the women he dated after Haley. He wasn’t serious enough about any of them to share anything like that with them until Rachel, and Rachel had a firm rule she didn’t want to know what he had done with anyone in his past. Using a strap-on wasn’t something she had ever brought up, and Danny was mortified by even the _idea_ of asking her to use one on him, so they had never discussed it despite their healthy sex life.

Some instinct for self-preservation had told Danny back when he was with Haley that if he ever found out what the real thing was like he might never want to go back to women, but he hadn’t been ready yet then to admit even to himself that he wasn’t as straight as he had always tried to be. His parents were very Catholic and being bisexual just wasn’t accepted then as anything a good Catholic boy would do, especially not one that wanted to be a cop. His dad had always been disgusted by any man that acted a little less than straight, making fun of them in a way that bordered on cruel sometimes while still being somehow amusing, and Danny had never wanted to find out how his dad would react if he found out his oldest son was a little bit gay.

Times had changed since Danny was in college, though. He wasn’t afraid being bisexual would make him lose his family anymore, but the idea of telling his parents he was sleeping with his very male partner – the same partner he loudly complained about to them every Sunday when he called home – still worried him. He wasn’t sure if he was ready to do it or even if he could, but he knew that if he and Steve did this, if whatever was going on between them turned into something more than sex fueled by loneliness and too much alcohol, Danny wouldn’t be able to hide it from complete strangers, much less his parents.

Steve slid his hand under Danny’s back, his lips brushing the side of Danny’s neck and voice sounding a little amused as he murmured softly, “I can feel you tensing up. Are you panicking again already, Danno?”

Danny swallowed hard, staring up at the ceiling fan that turned lazily over the bed. “Maybe. And don’t call me that. Especially now.”

Steve sighed and pulled back, rolling them to their sides facing each other and looking into Danny’s eyes with a wry little twist to his lips as he murmured, “You don’t need to worry. This won’t change anything if you don’t want it to, I promise.”

Danny just gazed into Steve’s eyes for a few moments and then whispered softly, “I can’t help it.”

Steve smiled slightly even though his eyes were sad as he pulled away, letting go of Danny even though his gaze never left Danny’s eyes. “Alright. I want you here, but go if you need to. I’ll see you at headquarters in a few hours. I’ve got to do something this morning, so I’ll be a little late.”

“I’ll be there,” Danny agreed, glad Steve was letting him go so easily.

“You’d better be,” Steve said softly, watching Danny with a suddenly pensive expression. “I need you watching my back.”

“I will be, I promise,” Danny murmured. He just stared at Steve for a moment longer before he quickly rolled away and off the bed to move towards the door without looking back. He was afraid that if he did look at Steve he wouldn’t leave even though he desperately needed to get out of there, needed to get some kind of control of himself before he said or did something that made Steve realize that what scared him most about having sex with Steve was the simple fact Danny kind of wanted to spend the rest of his life seeing just how many ways they could do it again.

Danny walked quickly to the stairs and headed down them, moving a little faster with every step without really noticing it, so fast in fact that he was almost running when he reached the landing halfway down the stairs. His right foot hit the landing awkwardly because he was already trying to turn to continue down the rest of the stairs, and the sudden stab of pain in his knee as his leg buckled under his weight shocked him out of his thoughts. He grabbed the railing to keep from falling, his momentum almost sending him face-first down the stairs, and he tried to catch himself on his right leg without thinking about it only to feel another stab of pain almost as bad as the first.

The sensation was disturbingly familiar and Danny had to bite back a groan as he leaned against the railing for a moment, gasping slightly at the pain as he sent up a fervent little prayer that he hadn’t managed to completely blow out his knee doing something so simple and stupid as trying to turn on his bad leg while he was moving too fast down a flight of stairs. He knew better, knew his knee couldn’t take that kind of thing even when he had warmed up the muscles that were essentially all that held the weakened joint together, and the fact the pain in his knee didn’t begin to fade after a few moments was enough to make him want to beat his head against the wall.

Danny tried not to let the pain in his knee slow him down too much as he continued down the stairs after a moment, but by the time he reached where his boxers were on the bottom step, he was clenching his teeth to keep from cursing. He was favoring his leg a little more with each step as he gathered up the trail of clothes that led from the foot of the stairs to the _lanai_ , stopping to put on each article of clothing as soon as he picked it up. He was careful to lean against something and take all of his weight off of his right leg each time, but it didn’t really help. Every step was more painful than the last, and when he reached where he had kicked his shoes and socks off by the table he was glad to fall into a chair next to them.

The pain in Danny’s knee wasn’t quite as bad when he sat down, not while he had his knee at the right angle to lessen the stress on the joint at least, but he couldn’t do his job sitting on his ass. That meant he needed to hurry even though he didn’t need to get to work any time soon because he’d have to go straight to the doc as soon as he had showered and changed into clean clothes at his own apartment. His knee had been sore off and on pretty much since he met Steve because he found himself racing around like a fool so often while he was watching Steve’s back, but he knew from painful experience that he had done serious damage to the ACL again this time. He was going to need prescription-strength pain pills and something for the swelling to get through the next few weeks, and he’d be in a brace and using his cane again, too.

None of the pills or braces would stop every step Danny took from hurting, of course, but hopefully he would at least be able to keep the pain at a level he could function at. He sighed and grabbed his shoes and socks, deciding not to bother putting them on yet mostly because he knew it would hurt like hell to bend his bad knee like he’d have to if he was putting socks on. He stood and began to make his slow painful way through the house towards the front door, wincing at every step and sending up a fervent little prayer that he wouldn’t have to go through surgery again.

He had been through surgery before, and even though it had worked, the rehab had been slow and painful afterwards and he knew that his job with Five-0 wouldn’t allow him _months_ to recover. Even a few weeks would be hard on the team and was sure to lead to Steve getting into all kinds of trouble because Danny wasn’t watching his back and talking him out of some of the crazier ideas he had. Chin would _try_ to keep Steve out of trouble if he had to, Danny had no doubt of that, but Chin seemed amused by Steve’s antics much of the time and Danny was afraid he would just hang back and enjoy the show. That was what Chin did most often with Kono, after all, and she and Steve were two peas in a pod.

Danny’s only other option would be self-medicating with booze and handfuls of Advil, and that hadn’t gone well at all the one time he tried it to avoid having to pay a doctor bill so most of his paycheck could go straight to a lawyer while he was trying to fight Rachel for custody of Grace during the divorce. He had been living with his parents then and lost most of a week into several bottles of cheap rotgut whiskey before he woke up one morning with his Ma sitting by his bed, crying and looking scared. She had begged him to just go to the doctor so she could have her son back, and offered to mortgage the house to help with the lawyer fees if she had to so he could take care of himself and still fight for Grace, and Danny had been so ashamed that he had promised her he would never drink like that again. So far he had managed to keep his word, and he didn’t intend to break it now just because Ma wouldn’t know he had done it.

The sun was just peeking over the horizon by the time Danny limped painfully out to the Camaro, and he sank into the driver’s seat already resigned to the fact he was going to have to dig his cane out from under his couch before he even went as far as his bathroom for a shower. Steve would probably give him shit about using the cane on the job because that was what Steve _did_ , but Danny could always punch him if Steve got really annoying about it, so he figured he would survive that part. He’d have to blame the injury loudly and at length on Steve to make sure Steve didn’t blame himself for it, but that wouldn’t be difficult at all.

Blaming Steve for everything that went wrong with his day was becoming a habit for Danny, mostly due to the simple fact Steve never seemed to take it personally so Danny felt free to indulge the impulse whenever he felt like it.

 

~*~

 

Danny sighed when he saw the name McGarrett on his phone and then looked at Dr Oh as he accepted the call. “Can I get those to go, please?”

Of _course_ Steve was calling to find out where he was. Steve had said he’d be late to work, sure, but it was nearly nine so he was probably there and wondering where Danny was. Steve was usually at the office by eight-thirty, even though official hours were nine to five, so it just figured that ‘late’ in Steve’s crazy brain would still mean getting to work before they were theoretically supposed to.

Dr Oh gave Danny a tolerant smile. “Of course. I’ll be right back.”

Danny smiled back at the doc and then lifted his phone to his ear just in time to hear Steve say, “Just stop complaining and get in the damned truck!”

“Uh, why would I want to do that?” Danny asked slowly. “I like my car.”

“I wasn’t talking to you, Danno,” Steve said quickly, then moved the phone away from his mouth a bit and said, “Please, for once in your life, just do as I say!” There was a noise that reminded Danny of an angry cat, followed by the sound of a door slamming, and then Steve was talking in a more normal voice even though he sounded kind of exasperated still. “I just got a call from the Governor, you need to meet me at Halawa Correctional. There’s been a jailbreak.”

“Okay,” Danny agreed, wondering who Steve had been talking to but resigned to another day of trying to solve a case and keep Steve from getting himself killed all at the same time. It would be especially fun because of his knee, but he wasn’t about to let a little pain – or a lot for that matter – stop him from keeping Steve alive. No matter what else happened between them, he wasn’t going to let Steve run off half-cocked and get himself killed if he could help it. “I’ve got to finish up here first, but I should be there soon.”

“That’s fine, I’m way to hell and gone and traffic’s a bitch today, so I’ll be a little while,” Steve said. “You’re in charge until I get to the scene.”

“You calling Chin and Kono to give them the heads-up, or am I?” Danny asked, not bothering to point out he had known that he’d be stuck in the hot seat until Steve was on the scene. The Governor had given Steve – and later the rest of them – full immunity and means, but even she couldn’t put an ex-cop with a bad record in place as second in command, despite the fact Chin had more successful convictions on his record than the rest of them combined.

The Governor had known Chin for years, or known _about_ him at least, and she had made it very plain that she had no doubts he was clean, but even she didn’t have the power to clear his record unless they could _prove_ Chin never took the money. Chin had refused to give any details on what had happened even to Jameson, so Danny had done some digging of his own and it didn’t take him long to find out that proving Chin innocent wasn’t going to happen unless Chin _wanted_ to be proven innocent. Danny was certain that Chin knew exactly who took the money, and he was equally sure Chin was never going to tell anyone, which made Danny think that Chin was probably protecting someone he cared about a great deal.

If Chin had been protecting a relative then it seemed to Danny like the rest of the Kelly family would have _known_ who Chin was protecting, if only because one of them had suddenly come into an unexplainably large amount of money, so his family wouldn’t have disowned him over it. That left just Chin’s long-time partner and closest friend as a likely suspect, so Danny had stopped digging and promised himself not to stick his nose in Chin’s business anymore. Danny didn’t want to ever have to see someone tell Steve his dad had been the cop on the take that ruined Chin’s career, and just the chance it might be true was enough to convince Danny he didn’t want to know.

“Would you mind?” Steve asked, pulling Danny back out of his thoughts.

“Nah, I got it,” Danny said. “You do whatever it is you have to do. I’ll see you there.”

“Great,” Steve said quickly, and then he hung up without another word.

Danny looked at his phone and then snorted, muttering to himself, “You’re welcome, asshole.” He sighed, thumbing speed dial three and then putting his phone back to his ear, and he smiled when it was picked up on the second ring.

“Hey brah, whatcha need?” Chin asked cheerfully.

“Steve just got a call from the Governor to put us all on a case out at Halawa Correctional, a jailbreak. He’s on the other side of the island, and I’m at Queens, so you and Kono are going to have to take the lead until we can get there.”

“Queens? Are you okay?” Chin asked, suddenly sounding concerned.

“Yeah, I just fucked up my ACL again,” Danny said, hoping Chin wouldn’t ask how. “I’m gonna be limping for a while, but I’ll live.”

“That’s gotta hurt, brah,” Chin pointed out, still sounding concerned even as Danny heard Chin’s bike rumble to life.

“Of course it _hurts_ , but I’ve been down this road before and I’ll survive,” Danny said quickly, smiling a bit at how obviously Chin was worried about him.

“You seeing Dr Oh, or one of the emergency staff?” Chin asked, surprising Danny enough that he barely noticed it as the Harley’s engine shifted from idle to the low rumble of moving slowly.

“Dr Oh,” Danny said, and then asked, “But how did you know that?”

“His name’s in your files as the physician that declared you fit for duty last time your knee flared up,” Chin said with obvious amusement. “He’s the doc that put Kono’s knee back together after she blew it, so I remembered when I saw you had seen him too.”

“I had almost forgotten she blew her ACL,” Danny admitted, a little surprised that Chin had been through his records. “How bad was it?”

“Totally gone,” Chin said, the sound of the Harley’s engine revving making it plain he was moving out. “Had to do surgery three times before she was even walking again, and it was six months after that before she was allowed to do anything more strenuous than walk Grandma’s dog. It was hell on the family once she was off the crutches, trying to keep an eye on her so she wouldn’t sneak off and do something stupid.”

“I can imagine,” Danny agreed with a soft laugh.

Danny was well aware that Kono was _always_ busy during her time off, usually doing something involving some kind of strenuous physical exercise. The woman was amazing and very dedicated to staying in the best shape she possibly could so she could be faster and stronger than the bad guys, not to mention most of the men she knew. It was kind of scary in the most awesome way Danny could imagine, and he wasn’t at all ashamed of the fact he wanted his daughter to grow up to be like her. Just, y’know, without the need for the bullet-proof vest. He wanted his little girl to do something safe with her life, like becoming a veterinarian so she could spend all her time with the animals she loved so much, or maybe a marine biologist so she could be around dolphins every day.

“So yeah, I know what you’re going through, brah. Take your time with the doc, he’s the best in the islands. Kono and I will handle the scene,” Chin said, sounding amused and confident. “Did the boss give you any specifics?”

“Not a damn thing,” Danny said with a little snort of a laugh. “I don’t know if the Governor told him anything or not, but I know he said he’s stuck in traffic and it’ll take him a while to get to Halawa.”

“It’s all good,” Chin said easily. “Kono and I will get up to speed so we can brief you when you get there.”

“I really appreciate it,” Danny said quickly, feeling relieved and glad yet again that Chin had their backs. “Steve wanted me to get out there and take over the scene, but the doc’s not done with me yet.”

“Don’t worry about it, Kono and I will handle everything,” Chin said firmly. “You get that knee taken care of, and take the pills that the doc gives you.”

“I will, _Dad_ ,” Danny agreed, grinning. “Thanks.”

Chin laughed. “You’re welcome, brah.”

“See you soon,” Danny said, still grinning.

“Will do, boss,” Chin agreed easily, and then the line went dead.

Danny smiled, putting his phone back down on his pants just as the door to the exam room opened, making him look that direction quickly as Dr Oh walked back in with two syringes in hand, giving Danny an amused look. “I’m sure you know what comes next, Detective.”

Danny groaned. “ _Two_ shots, Doc? Really?”

“Yes, I’m afraid so,” Oh said, still a bit amused. “And I recommend that you wear the brace that my nurse is getting now for at least the next three weeks, taking it off only when you are in bed or seated with your leg elevated. If you don’t have a brace at home, I’ll call down to have the pharmacy put a secondary brace with your prescriptions so you can wear one in the shower and keep the other one dry to work in.”

“I’ll use this one for the shower after today. I’ve got a custom brace at home,” Danny said quickly. “I just have to dig it out of my closet, and I won’t have time to do that until tonight.” He sighed and leaned back to put his hands on the padded exam table behind him, gripping the far edge firmly. “Okay. Let’s get this over with, Doc. I got a jailbreak to get to.”

Oh blinked. “A jailbreak?”

“Yep,” Danny said. “I told you, my life is crazy. I haven’t even had _breakfast_ yet, and no coffee except what your lovely nurse gave me while I was waiting for you to get in this morning, and now I get to go hunt down some convict with my insane partner. With the way my luck is going this week, the guy will be armed and take off on foot up a freaking _mountain_ or something.” He snorted a laugh. “And then Steve will go all Super-SEAL on him and truss him up like a hog for slaughter, but before that there’ll be running and gunfire and possibly explosions. There _always_ is. I don’t even _want_ to know where he got them, but the man keeps grenades in a box in his kitchen pantry like most people keep candles.”

Oh chuckled softly and sat down, rolling his stool over closer to Danny. “If it’s any consolation, Detective, one of these syringes is a long-term local anesthetic. It should help with the pain for six hours and give your prescriptions time to begin working, as long as you take the prescriptions as soon as you pick them up.” He paused and then added, “Though I do recommend you stay off the leg as much as possible, ice the knee as much as you can to help with the swelling, and avoid climbing any mountains.” Danny snorted, amused, and Oh smiled. “And you should definitely eat something substantial before you take the pain pills. We wouldn’t want you getting an ulcer on top of your other problems.”

“I will remember to do that, Doc, thanks,” Danny said feelingly. “I do _not_ need an ulcer, not the way I spend half my time running on caffeine and adrenaline.”

Oh looked like he was trying not to laugh, laying aside one syringe and then beginning to prepare the other one. “You’re very welcome, Detective.” He smiled at him, amused as he said, “This won’t be pleasant, as I am sure you’ll remember.”

“Yeah, I know, Doc. Just get it over with.” Danny managed to give Dr Oh a smile and then closed his eyes, not wanting to watch the needle going into his knee for the simple reason he had been there before and he knew what kind of pain he was about to be in.

Having a large-gauge needle inserted into your knee joint was about as enjoyable as having a knife shoved under your fingernail, and the inevitable flare up of pain and swelling in the joint after the cortisone shot was going to make the pain even worse when the local wore off.

 

~*~

 

By the time Danny and Steve were through questioning the escaped convict's girlfriend Sophia later that morning, the smell of food permeating the diner where Sophia worked had Danny’s stomach rumbling loudly. Sophia’s boss had dragged her off for a private talk the moment Steve and Danny were through questioning her, and Danny was very sure that Sophia was about to get fired for gross stupidity. Not only was Sophia dating a convict that was a violent criminal, but she had let the man into the diner after he broke out of prison, fed him breakfast he didn’t pay for, and then gave him her car. Danny figured Sophia would be looking for work within half an hour, tops.

Steve suddenly stood up to go, but Danny reached across the table to grab his arm and stop him. “Sit down, Steve. I was _serious_ about the pancakes. I need food.”

Steve settled back into his chair, looking a little incredulous. “Are you kidding me?”

“No, I am not!” Danny replied, looking around and catching the eye of the nearest waitress to gesture for her to come over before he looked back at Steve. “I’ve had a long morning and I can’t take my freaking pain pill unless I eat an actual meal, so if I don’t eat something soon, I’m gonna be useless. The local the doc shot into my knee is only gonna last a few hours, and if the pain pills don’t kick in by then Iwill _not_ be walking any more today, okay? I will be on the floor clutching my knee and trying not to pass out instead because a cortisone flare hurts like hell even _with_ pain pills, and going through that _without_ any meds in my system isn’t something I want to even _contemplate_.”

Steve just looked at him for a moment and then nodded. “Okay, we’ll eat, then.”

The waitress reached them then, looking harried and a bit wary as she glanced at the badge still lying on their table and then said, “What can I get you, officers?”

Danny smiled warmly at her. “Blueberry pancakes with extra butter, a double order of bacon, maple syrup, and coffee. Lots of coffee.”

Steve snorted softly at that, but a glance at him was enough for Danny to see Steve was trying not to laugh as he smiled up at the waitress, waiting for her to finish writing Danny’s order before he added, “And plain pancakes with whatever fruit you’ve got.”

“We’ve got strawberries, blueberries, mangoes, papaya, pineapple, and pomegranate that you can have in any combination you’d like, and there’s all the same flavors of fresh-made fruit syrups, hon,” the waitress said quickly, smiling. “Which would you like?”

“A fruit salad would be great,” Steve said, looking pleased. “Mango, papaya, and pomegranate, please ma’am. And the pomegranate syrup on the side.”

“And to drink?” the waitress asked, jotting his order down quickly.

Steve smiled warmly at her. “Coffee and a glass of pineapple juice.”

Danny scowled. “Oh come on! Not when I haven’t eaten yet today. Please.”

Steve smirked at him. “You don’t have to drink it.”

“But I’ll have to _smell_ it,” Danny pointed out quickly. "That's almost as bad."

“You’ll survive,” Steve said as he looked back up at the waitress expectantly.

“I’ll be right back with your food,” the waitress said, obviously amused as she turned to walk away.

“You ordered that just to fuck with me, Steven,” Danny said quietly, still giving Steve a dirty look. “Admit it.”

Steve smirked at him, changeable eyes sparkling and surprisingly blue as he murmured, “I promise I won’t be fucking with you in a diner.”

Danny blinked and then let out a surprised little laugh, looking away as he felt his face heating up. “You know what I meant, asshole.”

“I like pineapple juice,” Steve said calmly, and Danny looked back at him. “I don’t keep it in my fridge just to annoy you, Danno. It’s there because I drink a glass with breakfast every morning if I'm home.”

“Did you eat yet today?” Danny asked, changing the subject slightly. He knew Steve _did_ have an unhealthy love for pineapple. The guy seemed to always have pineapple in his fridge or on his counter in the fruit bowl, or both. There were even pineapples growing in his back yard, not far from a gnarled old mango tree that Danny knew Grace would beg to climb as soon as she saw it, if he ever let her go with him to Steve’s place. He had a feeling that if she saw Steve’s home with his private beach and the beautiful calm blue water she would beg to spend most of their limited time together there, and he wasn’t sure he could make himself tell her no.

“No,” Steve replied with a slight smile, “by the time I showered and dressed, I had to head for the airport to get Mare. I just grabbed a bottle of water and took off.” He tilted his head slightly, nodding towards the cane leaning against the chair next to Danny’s. “You ever gonna tell me how you really messed up your knee this morning?”

“Probably not, no,” Danny said quellingly. “Especially after you told _Kamekona_ I did it _getting_ _out of bed_.”

Steve grinned. “I thought that might get you to tell us how you really did it.”

“No such luck,” Danny said with a soft little snort. “It _did_ make me want to punch you, though. Just so you know.”

“Did you trip over your own feet or something?” Steve asked, still grinning. “I mean, how embarrassing could it be?”

“It doesn’t matter how I did it,” Danny said firmly, surprised to realize that he actually wanted to laugh. “So just shut up and leave it alone, Steven.”

Steve let out a little huff of a laugh. “Alright. I guess I can do that. For you.”

The waitress walked up quickly with a tray, smiling as she said, “Here we go, officers. I hope you enjoy your meal.”

“Oh, I will,” Danny said feelingly as he watched her put their plates and drinks on the table. “I am _starved_.”

“We,” Steve corrected, making Danny look at him. “ _We_ are starved,” Steve said with a grin. “Dinner last night was a long time ago.”

Danny laughed. “It sure was. Next time we get called out so early, we’re stopping for malasadas or a McMuffin or _something._ ”

“You boys shouldn’t skip breakfast,” the waitress said with a laugh, pulling a card out of her apron to lay it on the table. “Come by here on your way to work, we can put together to-go boxes for you in a hurry. Our cook makes a mean breakfast wrap from omelets or thin pancakes rolled around whatever you want in the middle, and if you call ahead we can have your order ready when you pull in.” She grinned and added, “One of us will even bring it out to your car if the tips are good enough.”

“Thanks,” Danny said, giving the waitress a pleased smile. “I’ll remember that.”

The waitress smiled back. “You do that, honey.” She reached out to pat his shoulder and then headed off towards another table.

Danny glanced at Steve as he reached for the small container of maple syrup the waitress had left for him, blinking in surprise when he saw how serious Steve looked suddenly. “What?”

“Nothing,” Steve said, looking down as he reached for the deep red pomegranate syrup the waitress had brought for him.

Danny looked at Steve for a moment and then looked back down at his plate, wondering if Steve was ever going to simply tell him what was on his mind when he asked, or if he’d always have to figure it out for himself. He kind of figured that he was stuck with the latter, but that didn’t keep him from idly wishing that Steve was a little better at talking about whatever was going on in that frighteningly intelligent head of his.

 

~*~

 

“Am I one of the bad relationship decisions?” Steve asked suddenly, making Danny look at him in surprise. “The ones you mentioned to Sophia earlier, I mean.”

They were in a parking lot near HQ, standing by the Camaro while they waited for Chin to arrive, and up until then they had been discussing the case. Chin was at HPD nosing through the files to see if he could find anything more on Dawkins, and Kono still hadn’t finished her trace, so they had no leads to follow at the moment. It was mostly Danny’s fault – he had been so hungry he forgot to call Kono _before_ they ate and have her run down the VIN on Sophia’s car while they were at the diner – but Steve didn’t seem to care and Danny hoped that it wouldn’t make any difference in how the rest of the day went down.

“Did I hear that right?” Danny asked quietly, still looking at Steve.

“Yeah, I think you did,” Steve said just as quietly. “I’d kind of like an answer, and not one like I got about your knee. I know you weren’t limping when you left my bed so it didn’t happen last night, but I don’t get why you won’t tell me how you _did_ do it.”

“God, it’s _not that important_ , Steve, but if you _must_ know, I twisted it on the stairs,” Danny said, frowning. “I was moving too damn fast because I was freaking out a little bit and I hit the landing wrong, okay? Instant blown knee.” He paused and then added, “Me knee _was_ sore already because I’ve been running around doing things I _know_ I shouldn’t do, trying to keep you from getting yourself killed, but I fucked it up today all on my own.”

“Okay,” Steve said calmly. “And my other question?”

“I don’t know yet,” Danny said quietly, being honest. “It’s not the smartest thing I’ve ever done, fucking my drunk boss, but you seem okay with it so I’m trying not to panic too much.”

“You don’t need to panic at all,” Steve pointed out softly, his tone and expression shifting to something surprisingly gentle. “I told you I wanted it as much as you did.”

“Yes, you did, and I am very glad it wasn’t just the alcohol talking,” Danny agreed. “That still doesn’t make this a good idea.” Steve frowned and opened his mouth to argue, but Danny cut him off. “Just shut up and listen to me for a minute!” Steve pressed his lips together in a firm line that gave away his annoyance plainly, but he gestured for Danny to go on. “Thank you. I’m not saying that I didn’t enjoy every second of last night, Steve, but I decided when I went into the academy that I was not going to shit where I eat, not _ever_. I have _never_ let myself do this kind of thing before and it’s going to take me a little time to deal with the fact I am evidently that guy now. I _will_ deal with it, I promise you, but we’re _partners_ and that has _got_ to come first, okay?”

Steve just looked at Danny for a long moment before he said quietly, “We’ve been working together fine today, Danno. Nothing has changed.”

“We have, and that’s a good thing because I kind of like my job,” Danny agreed quickly. “My partner is insane and tries to get us both killed at least twice a week, but other than that, it’s working out pretty damned good for me. We have a great team that manages to catch the bad guys pretty much every time, my boss makes sure I have time off for my daughter when he can, I make a little more than I did with HPD so I’m not eating ramen noodles anymore to be able to pay my rent, and I have full medical benefits that are paying for my doctor visits _and_ my prescriptions which is a very good thing when you’ve got a chronic knee injury.”

“What we do at home doesn’t have to affect how we work together,” Steve pointed out. “It’s just _sex_. It’s not like it _changed_ anything.” He paused and then added more softly, “Not for me, at least.”

Danny took a step back without really noticing it, staring at Steve and completely unable to put into words how it made him feel to hear Steve say that. He had thought they were on the same page, thought that they both wanted the same thing, and to hear he’d been very wrong hurt a lot more than he wanted it to. Steve was frowning suddenly, obviously aware he had said the wrong thing, and Danny had never been so glad to hear the sound of Chin’s bike. “Here’s Chin.”

“We’re not through talking about this,” Steve said quickly, still frowning.

“We are for now,” Danny said just a bit sharply, giving Steve a quelling look as Chin’s bike cruised up the street towards them. “We will _not_ talk about this at work, not again.”

“Okay,” Steve murmured, sounding unhappy. “Tonight then? I can pick us up some steaks after work.”

“That’s a bad idea,” Danny said quietly, not looking at Steve as he started to limp around the Camaro and the Silverado towards where Chin was parking his bike. “The local on my knee will wear off soon, and I _can’t_ have that conversation when I hurt so bad I just want to kill something.”

“Hey,” Chin called, “I pulled Dawkins’ jacket, you guys gotta see this.”

Steve didn’t say anything, his professional mask firmly in place again as he moved quickly past Danny to the back of his truck to pop the tailgate, and Danny tried very hard to get his mind back on the job as Chin began to explain what he had found.

 

~*~

 

Steve declared that Danny was going to coordinate and handle ‘the computer stuff’ for them for the rest of the day, parking Danny behind an extra desk at the HPD with Kono’s souped-up laptop while the rest of the team took down Dawkins and saved the day, but Danny’s knee was hurting so much by then that he couldn’t make himself care.

Steve picked Danny up on the way back to HQ, insisting that Danny shouldn’t drive with his knee like it was, and Danny didn’t have the energy to argue with him. If he was being honest with himself, Steve’s obvious concern actually made him feel kind of good, at least until they got back to headquarters and found out Mary was long gone. Steve forgot all about the plans he had just made to eat with Danny before he dropped him off at home, taking off to go find Mary instead, so Danny ended up ordering Chinese with Chin, Kono, and Kamekona, who all planned to eat in the HQ.

The conversation Chin and Kono had about Steve’s multitasking abilities while they were waiting for the delivery to get there made Danny beg off staying to eat with them. He blamed it on his knee and said the shot the doc gave him was wearing off, which had actually already happened, and as soon as the food got there he grabbed his dinner and headed out, refusing Kono’s offer to drive him home. He ended up cursing himself, his knee, and the fucked-up mess that was his life during the whole drive home, not even caring how crazy he looked to other drivers as he ranted at _himself_ for lack of anyone else to yell at.

Danny had enjoyed his share of one night stands, but he wasn’t the kind of guy who had casual sex with anyone he knew and it pissed him off that he hadn’t taken more time to find out what Steve was thinking before he let himself fall into bed with him. Something about Steve seemed to effortlessly fuck up all the things Danny had thought he knew about himself, and he _hated_ it even though he knew that some part of him, however twisted and misguided, wanted it, too. He figured that was the same part to blame for the frightening fact that he had fallen hard for his boss despite being very sure that it was the stupidest thing he had ever done, topping even the fact he had married Rachel despite knowing she loved the man she thought she could make him be, not who he actually was.

By the time Danny pulled up to his apartment, though, he had made his choice. He wasn’t going to be the convenient piece of ass on the side for _anyone_ , not even Steve, which meant that fucking Steve wasn’t happening again until something changed. Danny hadn’t met Catherine, had no clue anything about her really except her name and that she had let Steve talk her into risking a lengthy stint in Leavenworth that day, but he knew Steve had made a date with her – Chin had told Kono and Kamekona about it, amused by Steve’s audacity – and Danny wasn’t going to let Steve cheat on her with him.

Danny might have somehow turned into someone who fell for his partner, his _boss_ even, but he wasn’t about to be the kind of scum that helped someone cheat on their significant other, not even for Steve’s perfect body or that goofy grin that seemed to reach right into his chest and grab his heart.

 

~*~

 

Danny wasn’t sure what to think about the next two weeks.

The team stayed busy, chasing – and catching! – bad guys and just generally doing their jobs, and Steve made no move to try to get Danny into bed again. At first Danny was glad, but as the first week drew to a close he was almost beginning to wonder if that night had been his imagination. By the end of the second week he had decided that whatever he felt for Steve was obviously one-sided and therefore hopeless, but it didn’t stop him from thinking about Steve almost constantly.

Danny couldn’t keep what had happened that night between them off his mind no matter how hard he tried. Being around Steve was making him crazy when they weren’t busy enough to distract him from the utter stupidity of the fact he _still_ wanted Steve despite everything, but Steve seemed completely oblivious. He was his usual relaxed, maddeningly calm and confident self even when Danny was so twisted up inside that he could barely keep it together, and Danny found himself avoiding Steve completely during their free time just so he wouldn’t be tempted to punch the easy-going smile right off of his face.

Still, picking Grace up that Friday brightened Danny’s weekend and made everything better, as always, and Danny and Grace had spent a long happy evening in front of her laptop planning their weekend before they watched a movie together over pizza. Getting a call from Chin before Grace was even _awake_ the next morning had shot that all to hell though, and left Danny annoyed and upset as he made his way down to the medical examiner’s office to meet Steve. Danny had started in on Steve almost immediately, mostly because Steve was entirely too bright-eyed and enthusiastic about being at work less than an hour after sunup on _Saturday_ , but Steve had just taken Danny’s complaints with an annoying cheerfulness that made Danny want to hit him and left him wondering what was really going on.

After spending a little more time with Steve that morning, though, Danny had finally realized why Steve was so smug and cheerful. Steve had gotten laid.

Danny spent the next several hours working very hard to keep Steve from seeing that he wasn’t sure whether he wanted to punch him or just walk away and not have to look at him again for a week or two until he cooled off. Absorbing himself in the case did a lot to distract him as they chased leads down, and by the time they got to the club that night he had stopped wanting to beat Steve with his cane. Seeing Steve completely ignoring the women in the club had helped enough that he managed to tease Steve about getting laid, but it was all he could do to pretend to be amused by it when Steve acted like it was nothing.

Steve had spotted the guy they were looking for right after that, and Danny was glad to turn his irrational anger at Steve on another target. The guy had tried to roofie a girl right in front of them a few moments later and Danny had gladly taken it as an excuse to take out how he was feeling on the bad guy.

The leads they got from the douchebag with the roofies kept them running through the night and well into the next morning, and Danny was just starting to think that he was going to be able to deal with Steve without constantly wanting to hit him when Steve pulled out his phone and called Catherine right in front of him. Danny wasn’t sure whether to be pissed that Steve had done it or glad that Steve was at least probably hooking up with Catherine instead of cheating on her – and Danny, though he knew he had no right to feel that way – with some stranger.

The case distracted Danny fully again within a few minutes, though, and soon Danny was sitting on the sidelines again while he watched his team go into a hostile situation and cursed his knee and the fact Steve had actually _listened_ when he said he was supposed to avoid strenuous activity.

 

~*~

 

Danny avoided Steve after they closed the case and didn’t see him again until Monday morning, when Steve finally wandered into work about nine-thirty.

Danny was sitting at his desk in his office with his bad leg up in a chair, doing the paperwork from the case the day before, but the glass walls made it impossible for Steve to get to his office without Danny seeing him. Steve had that wide, smug smile on his face again and Danny felt himself grinding his teeth a little as he muttered under his breath, “Get a grip, Williams.”

Danny was _obviously_ the only one who had thought he and Steve had something important going on, and it pissed him off that he couldn’t just forget about it like Steve evidently had. His anger was finally starting to turn inward instead of towards Steve, who had been very open about the fact he and Catherine hooked up with whenever she was in port, but being pissed at himself didn’t really help Danny deal with the situation any better. Danny didn’t know any specifics about Catherine other than the fact she was a Naval Intelligence officer that Steve had known for years, but even that much was enough to make Danny realize that she and Steve shared a whole world that Danny simply wasn’t part of.

Danny’s cell started to play Rachel’s ringtone and he groaned, letting his head fall forward as he muttered, “Fuck my life.” He sighed and reached for the phone, picking it up and answering it, “Yes dear. What can I do for you on this fine sunshiny Monday?”

“You can stop that annoying sarcasm and try to be civil, Daniel,” Rachel said quickly, just a bit sharp.

Danny took a slow deep breath and then let it out before he grudgingly murmured, “Sorry, Rach. It’s not you I’m pissed at, not this time. You don’t call me at work unless there’s a problem, so what did you need?”

“I called to ask if you might possibly be able to take Grace this Friday,” Rachel said, making his eyes widen. “She has no school on Friday because of a teacher’s work day, but she did not tell me this fact until this morning and I have already made three appointments for the day that I cannot cancel. I know you were both upset about your missed weekend with her, so I thought perhaps you could pick her up Thursday from school and keep her until Saturday morning, when she has her riding lesson. I know it’s short notice, but I hoped that you could arrange something with Commander McGarrett by then if I gave you the opportunity. If not, Grace will be spending the day with the maid and I prefer to avoid that if at all possible.”

“I… Wow. Thank you,” Danny said quietly, shocked she was _volunteering_ to let him spend time with Grace. His office door opened and he looked up to see Steve standing there, looking curious, so he said, “Just a sec, okay? Steve just walked in.”

“Do be quick, I have things to do today,” Rachel said with a sigh.

Danny moved the phone away from his mouth, meeting Steve’s gaze as he said simply, “Grace is out of school Friday, so Rachel is offering to let me pick her up from school on Thursday and keep her until her riding lessons on Saturday morning to make up for my missed weekend.”

“Take it,” Steve said without hesitation. “We won’t need you.”

Danny didn’t like hearing that, but he was so glad Steve was giving him the time off that he didn’t argue. “Thanks.” He moved the phone back to his mouth, looking down again as he said, “You’ve got a deal, Rachel. Thank you.”

“Yes, well, she spent the entire ride to school this morning begging to spend Friday with you,” Rachel admitted, sounding a bit displeased. “She was rather upset this weekend about your missed time together.”

Danny sighed. “We had a case, Rachel. A girl was kidnapped and it took _all_ of us to get her back alive.”

“I saw the story on the news last night,” Rachel said quietly. “Grace did as well. She was very proud of you when she saw you putting that rather large black man into a patrol car, despite your injury.”

Danny blinked, surprised. “That was on the news?”

“Yes, it was, as well as the story about the ambassador’s daughters and the kidnapping ring and how you and your team tracked down the people behind both,” Rachel said, and Danny could tell from the sound of her voice that she was smiling. “It was… rather impressive work, Detective Williams.”

“Thanks, I think,” Danny said, smiling. “We were just doing our jobs, though.”

“You do it well,” Rachel said quietly, and then her tone changed as she abruptly said, “I have to go, I’m going to be late for my appointment. Grace gets out at three on Thursdays.”

“I know, I’ll be there,” Danny said quickly.

“See that you are, Daniel,” Rachel said, and then she hung up on him.

Danny snorted and shut off his phone, putting it away as he muttered to himself, “Like I’d forget when I need to pick up my baby girl.”

“She gets out at three on Thursdays, doesn’t she?” Steve said suddenly, making Danny look back up at him.

“Yeah, she does,” Danny said, surprised. “Since when do you know her schedule?”

“She’s important to you,” Steve said, shrugging one shoulder slightly. “And I need to know when you might need time off.” He paused and then added, “Take off after lunch on Thursday. You’ll need time to get groceries and clean up your box, it always looks like a tsunami just went through.”

“It’s an _apartment_ ,” Danny said, rolling his eyes. “Did you want something when you barged in, or were you just bored?”

“I was wondering if you had heard anything from the Governor,” Steve said, looking a bit hopeful.

“She calls _you_ when she has a case for us, not me,” Danny pointed out. “If you’re bored, go ask Chin to find you a cold case to poke into.” He gestured at his computer and the keyboard and stack of forms in front of him, adding pointedly, “I’m kind of busy doing _your_ paperwork.”

“You do it so well, though,” Steve said quickly, grinning. “Much better than I do.”

“Which is why I am doing it,” Danny agreed. “Now go away and quit bothering me so I can get this done before you find us another case.”

Steve just grinned a little wider and turned around, walking out of Danny’s office without another word.

Danny let his gaze linger on Steve’s ass for only a moment before he mentally kicked himself and turned his attention back to the computer, muttering, “Don’t even think about it, Williams.”

He had already made his one excusable mistake with Steve, and he wasn’t doing it again.

 

~*~

 

“What are you doing on Saturday?” Steve asked suddenly, making Danny look over at him in surprise.

They were on the way back to headquarters to drop Steve off so Danny could go grocery shopping before he had to pick Grace up from school, and Danny had been kind of enjoying the silence for the moment. They had solved three cold-case murders that week and dealt with a hostage situation, but the work had all been pretty easy compared to their usual frantic pace and Danny was actually managing to keep up pretty well. His knee was still hurting pretty much all the time, but pain pills and the occasional Tylenol on top of them was keeping him mobile enough not to slow Steve down too much.

The case they had been chasing a lead on that day was a bank robbery gone bad over a year ago that ended with two people dead and no arrests. There was little urgency to get it solved and their best lead so far had just fizzled out, so Danny didn’t even feel bad about taking the rest of the day off. They had suspicions about two ex-military beach bums that always seemed to have money even though they had no obvious means of supporting themselves, but so far they had no proof at all. Chin was on their money trail to try and dig up some dirt while Kono played beach bunny and kept an eye on the suspects, but for the moment the case was dead in the water.

“On Saturday I am watching cartoons with my beautiful daughter until nine, when I have to take her to Step-Stan’s country club to meet her mother for their weekly riding lesson,” Danny said slowly. “Why do you ask?”

Steve shrugged, not looking at Danny. “No reason.”

“No, there was a reason, or you wouldn’t ask,” Danny pointed out. “You never ask what I’m doing with my time off unless you’re hoping I’ll do something you wanted me to do.”

Steve blinked and looked at Danny, surprised. “I ask what your plans with Grace are all the time!”

“Yes, but I am spending the day with Gracie _tomorrow_ , not Saturday, and you specifically asked about Saturday,” Danny pointed out. “You already knew Grace won’t be with me Saturday, ergo, you were not asking about her.”

Steve stared at him a moment and then looked back at the road as if it was suddenly extremely interesting, even though they traveled down the same street at least once a day on the way to headquarters. “I was just curious.”

“Well, if you _must_ know,” Danny said just a bit pointedly, “I have my first rehab appointment at noon on Saturday, since this isn’t supposed to be my weekend with Gracie, and then I had planned to pick up a six-pack of beer and take a handful of Tylenol before I settle on my couch and try to pass out watching whatever is on television.”

“Drinking alone isn’t good for you,” Steve pointed out, glancing at Danny and actually looking a little concerned. “Especially mixed with pain pills.”

Danny let out a shocked laugh. “Oh hell no, you did _not_ just say that to _me_. I am not the one who has a cooler _specifically for beer_ that I haul out whenever I get bored so I can get smashed on my beach instead of talking to someone about whatever the hell is bothering me.”

“What _is_ bothering you?” Steve asked, looking at Danny again. “You’ve been pissy for weeks, and I’m starting to think it’s not just your knee like you say it is.”

“You, Steven,” Danny said firmly, waving a hand at Steve. “ _You_ are bothering me! You do it _every single day_ , and don’t even try to tell me you don’t do it on purpose because I am a detective and I can _tell_ when you lie to me.”

Steve smiled slightly. “How am I bothering you right now, Danno? I’m not doing anything.”

“Simply by being _you_ ,” Danny said with a snort. “Somebody up there _hates_ me and cursed me with a partner that is the walking embodiment of that old Chinese curse, ‘May your life be interesting.’ There’s never a dull moment around you, and at the moment I’d kind of like some dull.”

“You’d get bored,” Steve said dismissively. “Fast, even.”

“I _want_ to be bored, Steven,” Danny said heatedly, giving Steve a dirty look. “I _crave_ boredom right now, okay? I want a whole day so bored out of my skull that I can’t keep my eyes open!”

“There’s a big golf tournament on ESPN on Sunday,” Steve said, looking amused. “You’re welcome to come over and watch. You like my couch, it’s a lot more comfortable than that thing you sleep on. I’ll even supply the beer and snacks.”

Danny blinked, surprised that Steve remembered he thought golf was boring. “Thank you for the offer, I will consider it.”

“Good,” Steve said cheerfully, turning his attention back to where they were going as he turned onto the side road that led around the Iolani Palace to the parking area nearby that was designated for Five-0’s use.

Danny just looked at Steve for a moment longer and then turned his attention ahead of them, feeling like he had somehow lost the argument even though he wasn’t exactly sure what they had been arguing about this time to begin with. It was a familiar feeling after being married to Rachel, though not a welcome one, and it made him especially glad that he was about to have two days that were blessedly Steve-free. He needed to clear his mind, and spending some time with Grace was the perfect way to do it.

He’d worry about the fact he had kind of agreed to spend Sunday with Steve when he had to come up with an excuse why he wasn’t going to show up.

 

~*~

 

Danny was sitting in the very back booth at a little diner he had stumbled across during his first week in Hawaii, his right leg up on the bench along the back of the booth with a bag of frozen peas on his knee to try and dull the pain.

He had to eat a full meal if he didn’t want to be nauseated for hours after he took his pain pill, and the thought of standing long enough to cook made him want to whimper like a beaten dog, so he was taking the easy way out, just like he planned to do when it was time for his next pill later that night. He was hungry enough that he was efficiently putting away a plate of lasagna that was passable but not nearly as good as his mom’s, ignoring everything around him as he tried to just finish his meal so he could go home and take the pain pill that had been due half an hour ago. He could have already taken it, but he didn’t trust himself to drive while he was under the influence of serious narcotics, especially when he was already tired.

Danny’s plate was more than half empty and he was starting to consider having the waitress box up the rest and calling it done when someone slid into the booth across from him. He looked up in surprise and then went wide-eyed when he saw a very pretty brunette with a dazzling smile watching him. She was wearing a USN tank top and jeans and making it look good, and he was absolutely certain he had never met her in his life. He would definitely have remembered her.

The woman reached out her hand to offer it to him, her brown eyes sparkling happily. “I’ve really been looking forward to meeting you, Danny.”

Danny reached to shake her hand, more than a little confused but smiling too as he said, “Uh, thanks, I think. And you are…?”

“Oh!” She laughed, cheerful and relaxed. “Sorry, I’m Cath. Steve’s told me so much about you that I kind of feel like I know you already.”

“He has, huh?” Danny said, surprised as he settled back in the booth, wondering how she had recognized him without Steve there to point him out. “He’s told me exactly three things about you: that you’re Naval Intelligence, you make a habit of visiting him when you’re on leave, and you’re willing to break regs for him.”

Catherine looked surprised. “Seriously?”

“Yes, ma’am,” Danny said, nodding. “Steve is not the most talkative guy when it comes to his personal life.”

Catherine let out a little laugh, still obviously surprised. “I think that must depend on who he’s talking to, or talking _about_. He’s told me everything about you, I think.”

“Such as?” Danny asked, curious.

“That you’re his partner and you think Jersey is heaven on earth, to start with. You like the Yankees and hate the Red Sox – which I totally agree with, by the way – and you’ve got a beautiful daughter named Grace who loves dolphins and the ocean. You let him drive your car even though you bitch at him about it, you like a cold Longboard on a moonlit beach, you enjoy a good steak but love sweets even more, and a thousand other things.” Danny couldn’t keep his growing surprise from showing as Catherine smirked and added, “Like the fact he’s neck deep in —“

“Cath, shut up!” Steve said quickly, just a bit wide-eyed as he hurried towards them and then practically fell into the booth next to Catherine. He ignored Danny, almost scowling at Catherine as he added, “Do _not_ go there.”

Catherine rolled her eyes. “Coward.”

Steve pretended not to hear her, looking over at Danny as he changed the subject. “How did rehab go?”

Danny gave Steve a searching look, frowning slightly as he wondered what Catherine was going to say before Steve cut her off. “Like _rehab_. I got poked and prodded and then shoved in a pool for an hour to do exercises they say will make my knee stronger even though I just ended up wanting to scream by the time the torturers got done with me. I’m supposed to go back after work Tuesday and then Friday afternoon to let them do it all over again, then we take more pictures of my knee next Tuesday and go from there.”

Steve looked a little more concerned. “Is that good or bad?”

“Neither,” Danny said with a slight shrug, sitting forward again to reach for his tea. “Doc gave me another shot and did another round of pictures this morning before he let them start in on me. He says my knee hasn’t gotten worse since the day I hurt it, at least, but it isn’t any better, either.”

“Well, it’s only been three weeks since you tripped on the stairs at Steve’s,” Catherine said, smiling at Danny as he stared at her in surprise. “That’s not long at all with a knee injury. When Steve dislocated his knee and tore some cartilage during an op our first year out of Annapolis, he was laid up in Norfolk for most of four _months_ , stuck behind a desk taking language classes so they wouldn’t send him home on medical leave.”

“Dad wouldn’t let me come home anyway,” Steve pointed out, looking at Catherine. “He didn’t want me here. I would have ended up staying at a hotel, at least until your mom found out about it __.”

Catherine patted his arm, looking a little amused. “At least he finally got past it.”

“Yeah,” Steve murmured, looking down at the table. “Too late to do any good, though.”

Catherine sighed and moved her arm to put it around Steve, kissing his cheek softly before she murmured, “You need to stop blaming yourself for _his_ problems, Stevie. You would have walked through fire if he asked you to.”

Steve gave Catherine a crooked little smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. “Thanks, Cath.” He leaned to kiss her, gentle and slow, and Catherine melted against his side with a low pleased sound.

Danny looked back down at his plate, considering whether he wanted to bother with taking it home to finish it or not for only a moment before he pushed it away and leaned to take the bag of peas off his knee. He had just put the bag on the table by his plate when Catherine asked quickly, “Aren’t you going to finish your lunch, Danny?”

Danny forced a smile for Catherine, meeting her concerned gaze for a moment before he turned his attention back to his bad leg as he said, “No, I’ve had enough.” He used his right hand to help carefully lower his foot to the floor, gritting his teeth to keep from cursing at how much it hurt to flex his knee, and then he added, “You two enjoy your lunch. I’m going to head home.”

“We didn’t come in here to eat,” Catherine said quickly. “I saw the Camaro on our way by, so we stopped to see you.”

Danny looked at Catherine, surprised enough that she recognized his car that he didn’t know what to say, but Steve spoke up before he could anyway.

“Did you eat breakfast today, Danno?” Steve asked, and when Danny looked over at him he was a little surprised by Steve’s obvious concern.

“Yes, I did,” Danny replied. “Grace and I had toast and eggs.” The toast he made for breakfast was actually how he had discovered that he needed to eat a full meal to take his pain pill. He had scarfed down a slice of toast with his first cup of coffee before he took his pain pill and started making breakfast, and within five minutes he had been so nauseated he was sure he’d break his streak and end up throwing up. He didn’t want to repeat the experience again, so he intended to be much more careful about eating a real meal before he took his ibuprofen.

“Did you eat enough now to take another pain pill? You should have a full meal with it,” Steve pointed out. “Ibuprofen eights are terrible on your stomach.”

“Yes, Mom, I did,” Danny said, rolling his eyes as he grabbed his cane and scooted to the edge of the booth.

The waitress that was usually working the tables when Danny came into the diner, Kim, was just leaving the nearby kitchen with a tray, and when she saw Danny was about to leave she called, “Danny, sit still a sec.”

Danny smiled and nodded to let her know he would, then waited while he watched Kim deliver the tray of food and then start quickly towards him, every move graceful and efficient. She reminded him a lot of Kono, though she was shorter than Danny by a few inches, and she always had a kind word for Danny and usually a kiss too if he gave her half a chance, even though he knew she was happily married with two kids. She gave Danny a quick smile as she got to the table, looking a little frazzled as she leaned to grab his plate and the bag of peas, putting both on her tray. “You need to stay off that leg, honey. Give me your card and I’ll go take care of it for you.”

Danny smiled up at her, amused. “I would let you, but I have to get up anyway to get my wallet.”

Kim laughed and teased, “I noticed when you came in that it's getting on towards laundry day again. That's the only time I see you in such tight jeans.” Danny let out a little huff of a laugh as she added, “Still, let me have it and you can sit right back down. Tony’s busy taking a phone-in order right now for a family group that will be here in an hour, and I don’t want you having to stand and wait for him to finish.”

Danny smiled and stood, leaning back against the end of the booth while he tugged his wallet out of his back pocket and then fished out his credit card, offering it to Kim as he teased, “You’ll have me in here every day if you keep spoiling me like this, Kimmy.”

“That’s the whole idea, honey,” Kim said cheerfully, kissing him lightly on the cheek and then giving him a shove with the hand holding his credit card. “Sit.”

“Woof,” Danny replied, falling back into the booth with a laugh that mostly hid his wince at the stab of pain in his knee.

Kim smirked. “Good boy.” She turned to walk away with his half-eaten lunch and the credit card, putting a little extra sway into her hips that he watched with a smile, forgetting for the moment that Steve and Catherine were watching him. He might not have encouraged Kim’s flirting if he hadn’t seen Tony grinning while he watched her do it one day, but knowing her husband approved of her having a little harmless fun made it easy for Danny to relax and enjoy it too. He had always appreciated the sight of a pretty woman, and he enjoyed the eye-candy and easy friendliness Kim offered, glad that he didn’t have to wonder what her underlying motives might be.

“She seems to know you pretty well,” Steve said suddenly, and when Danny looked at him he was surprised to see Steve was scowling.

“I’ve been coming in here practically since I landed on the island,” Danny said reasonably, wondering why Steve was annoyed. “Kim’s family owns the place.”

“She seems sweet,” Catherine said, looking very amused as she glanced between Steve and Danny. Her attention settled on Danny as she added, “Pretty, too. Have you asked her out yet?”

Danny let out a snort of a laugh. “Besides the fact her husband works the register and is twice _Steve's_ size, when do I have time to _date_ anyone? If I’m not working or trying to catch a few hours of sleep, I’ve got Grace, and if I’m awake and I haven’t got Grace or work, there’s a million things that need doing, like laundry, or cleaning, or going grocery shopping, or washing the mud off my Camaro after _somebody_ charged up another pigtrack he calls a road.”

Steve looked surprised and then pleased, settling back into the booth next to Catherine and smiling as he relaxed again. “You make time for dinner and a beer with me sometimes.”

“I usually don’t have a _choice_ ,” Danny pointed out. “You insist on driving my car, and you’ve made a habit of driving it to _your_ house and then taking my keys with you when you get out.”

“It’s for your own good,” Steve said, still smiling. “It’s not right for you to sit alone in that _box_ all the time.”

“We’ve _had_ this discussion, Steve,” Danny said patiently, trying to keep hold of his temper. “The day you stop sitting alone on your beach and staring at the water while you drink until your cooler is empty is the day you get to complain about me having a beer or two alone at _my_ place.”

“You know, you could always put a stop to _both_ of you drinking alone, and just drink together,” Catherine pointed out, amused.

“And we do, on occasion,” Danny agreed. “Especially if he’s buying the beer.”

“Why don’t you ever come over while I’m around?” Catherine asked, looking curious.

Danny blinked in surprise. “Possibly because couple time is only really fun for the _couple._ I mean, I know how you and Steve spend your time when you’re in port, and I don’t know about _you_ , but sitting around watching someone make time with their significant other is not my idea of fun.”

“Especially if it’s Steve,” Catherine pointed out, giving Danny an odd little smile.

Danny stared at her a moment and then said slowly, “No, I would show the same courtesy to Chin or Kono when they were with someone they wanted to spend a little quality time with, especially if I knew they hardly ever got to see them. It’s just what you _do_ for friends.”

“Yes, but you wouldn’t sit home drinking and brooding about it,” Steve pointed out quietly.

Danny looked at Steve, frowning. “Okay, no. I do _not_ sit home drinking because of what you do with your girl or anyone else you take home. I do sometimes sit home and have a few beers while I relax or to help dull the pain in my knee to a level where I can pass out in peace, but that has _nothing_ to do with you, Steven. I don’t care what you do or who you do it with.”

Steve frowned, sitting up to lean forward over the table. “Don’t lie to me, Danny. I know better than that. And I _don’t_ take anyone but you or Cath home with me.”

“Why should I bother to lie?” Danny asked, still frowning. He was very aware of Catherine watching them with a concerned expression, but he couldn’t stop himself from adding, “I told you where I stood, and you’ve made your answer very plain, I think.”

Steve was obviously confused by that, still frowning. “What are you talking about?”

“If you don’t know, I’m not about to try to explain it to you,” Danny said, grabbing his cane and then pushing off from the table to get to his feet. “I’d just end up wanting to deck you, which wouldn’t do either of us a damn bit of good.” He looked at Catherine, giving her a forced smile as he said, “It was nice meeting you, Catherine.”

“It was nice finally meeting you too, Danny,” Catherine said softly, looking a little sad but trying hard to smile at him. “I’ll talk to him and help him figure it out. He didn’t _mean_ to hurt you, I know.”

Danny stared at her in surprise for an instant and then asked, “Why would you do that?”

“Because I want you both to be happy,” Catherine said quietly, smiling a bit more sincerely at Danny. “He’s not good at the whole relationship thing, but he cares about you very much, Danny, and he’s trying.”

“From what you said you’ve been with him for _years_ ,” Danny pointed out quietly, frowning. He wasn’t sure what to make of the fact that Catherine obviously not only knew what had happened between him and Steve, but wanted them to fix it, too. He couldn’t imagine being with Steve as long as she had and then wanting to pass him on to someone new. No matter how crazy Steve made him, Danny still wanted Steve in his life, even when just looking at Steve hurt. “It makes no sense that you’re not _mad_ at me right now.”

“Oh honey, no,” Catherine said quickly, looking surprised. “I’m not upset with you _at all_ , okay? Steve and I are just friends that happen to have sex sometimes. I don’t really count.”

Danny looked at Steve for a moment and then back at Catherine as he said, “Evidently we have more in common than you think.” He turned away and headed towards where Kim was just finishing up at the register, trying hard to ignore the pain in his knee that seemed to increase with every step.

“Danny, wait,” Steve said, but Danny didn’t let himself look back even though Steve sounded upset.

“Let him go, Stevie,” Catherine said firmly just loud enough for Danny to hear her. “We need to have a long talk before you say _anything_ else to him.”

Danny didn’t hear Steve’s reply, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to anyway.

Kim looked concerned as she moved to meet Danny with a Styrofoam container holding his leftover lasagna, offering him his credit card and the receipt with her other hand as she asked quietly, “Are you okay, honey?”

“Yeah, Kimmy, I’m fine,” Danny said as he took the card and the slip of paper and stuffed them in his front pocket, forcing a smile for her that he hoped was genuine enough to pass as he accepted the container of leftovers. “I just should have taken a pain pill an hour ago and I’m starting to really feel it.”

“Will you be okay to get home?” Kim asked, still concerned. “I can get someone to drive you, my cousin Ken is here and he would be glad to run you home. His friends could follow in his truck, so you wouldn’t have to worry about leaving your car.”

Danny wished he had a hand free to give her a hug as his smile grew much more sincere. “Thanks, sweetheart, but I’ll be fine. It won’t take me long to get home where I can relax.” He didn’t tell her how painful driving actually was, mostly because she didn’t need to know. He would make it home faster than he usually did, but that was only because he wanted to get out of his car again as quickly as possible.

“If you’re sure, hon,” Kim said, giving him a soft smile. “You take care of yourself and come back soon, okay?”

“I will,” Danny agreed. “Dinner at least one night this week, for sure.”

“Tuesday night’s special will be meatball subs, and Wednesday will be the short ribs you love,” Kim said, smiling a bit wider.

Danny mustered up a grin for her. “I’ll remember. See you soon.”

“ _Aloha_ ,” Kim replied, hugging him and kissing his cheek before she turned away to hurry off towards a table where three people were just sitting down.

Danny headed out to his Camaro, which seemed like a long walk even though he had parked as close to the door as he could without taking a handicapped spot. He put his food on top of the car while he dug his keys out of his pocket, and then a few moments later he was pulling out of the parking lot, gritting his teeth against the pain in his knee as he tried to drive and wishing it had been his left leg that he blew out all those years ago instead of his right.

Driving was a _bitch_ with his knee screaming bloody murder every time he had to move his foot.

 

~*~

 

It was well after midnight later that night when Danny’s bladder began protesting the three beers he’d had before he dozed off, dragging him out of a sound sleep.

The room was pitch black because of the thick drapes on the windows, which Danny had closed so he could sleep in, and it took him a moment to be sure he really had his eyes open. He grumbled to himself under his breath as he swung his bad leg off the pillows he had piled on the couch to elevate it, gasping at the stab of pain as he flexed the knee and then cursing feelingly as he hauled himself to his feet. He took a moment to just stand there in the darkness with his eyes closed and breathe before he bent to feel around for the coffee table and his cane, which he was sure he had left lying on it.

It was still there, and as soon as he found it he straightened and began to hobble down the hall to the bathroom, glad that his eyes were adjusting to the dark room even thought he wasn’t really hindered by it as he made his way through the familiar apartment. He had been finding the bathroom half awake for long enough that he could have easily gotten there blindfolded, so being able to make out little more than shadows didn’t slow him down at all.

Danny was fully awake and his eyes had adjusted to the darkness by the time he began to hobble back to the couch, so when he got back into the living room he immediately noticed Steve sitting in the only chair watching Danny in silence. Steve was wearing the shorts and USN tank top he often wore to work out, his running shoes on his feet and a beer in one hand, and he was he sprawled in the chair like he belonged there.

Danny stopped abruptly, frowning and suddenly very aware that he was wearing nothing but a pair of comfortably worn old boxers that had been white at one time but were now a dingy grey from being washed with his black socks too many times to count. “I distinctly remember locking the door behind me when I got home.”

“You did,” Steve agreed softly, his expression unreadable. “I didn't want to wake you, so I picked the locks.”

Danny stared at Steve for a long moment before he continued towards the couch, leaning heavily on his cane with every step as he muttered, “Of course you did.” His head felt a little fuzzy still, a combination of the beer and the muscle relaxer and pain pill he had taken not long before he fell asleep, and he said the next thought to hit his mind before he stopped to think about the consequences. “Catherine finally get smart and kick you out of bed?”

“Cath was never in my bed tonight,” Steve replied quietly. “Not like you mean anyway. She _is_ why I’m here, though, or what she said is anyway.”

Danny turned on the lamp by the couch before he sat down, clenching his jaw at the pain in his knee as he dropped the cane against the end table and then used both hands to help get his leg up on the pile of pillows again. It didn’t really seem to help the pain to prop his leg up, but the physical therapist had told him that morning that he needed to keep it elevated as much as possible to help with the swelling so he was trying to do it even though it hurt. He was breathing hard by the time his leg was settled in place again, his teeth clenched to keep from cursing a blue streak, and he just sat there with his eyes closed for a minute or two waiting for the pain to recede a little before he turned to reach for the bottle of water on the coffee table, groaning when his fingers came up a few inches too short.

Steve jumped up and moved quickly to get the water, offering it to Danny as he said softly, “Let me help you, Danno. Please.”

Danny stared up at Steve a moment before he accepted the water, muttering a bit grudgingly, “Thanks.” He opened the water and took a drink, not looking at Steve, and then asked, “Is that why you’re in my living room at—" He glanced over at the clock on the VCR. "—nearly one in the morning? You wanted to check on me, even though my knee has been like this for weeks and you haven’t bothered before now?”

“I was _trying_ to do like you told me to do,” Steve pointed out quietly, sitting on the coffee table so they were only a few feet apart. “You asked me to give you time and some space to figure out what you wanted.”

Danny looked at Steve incredulously. “Seriously? You’re going with that?”

“Yes, I’m going with that,” Steve said, frowning. “It’s the _truth_. You said you didn’t want to talk about us at work, _or_ while your knee was hurting you, and I know it’s been pretty bad so I’ve been waiting until you were ready. You’ve never had any trouble telling me exactly how you feel about things before, so I figured you would this time too when you got ready to let me in on what I did wrong.”

Danny just looked at Steve for a few moments before he looked away, his gaze dropping to the water bottle he was holding as he began to pick at the label. “Well, that’s good, I guess, but you’re waiting for nothing. I decided that didn’t want to hear you say it again, so I just tried to forget it.”

“Say what again?” Steve asked softly. “What did I say, Danno? Tell me so I can fix this.”

Danny lifted his gaze to Steve’s again, seeing the concern and confusion in his expressive eyes, and after a few moments he admitted quietly, “Hearing you say that night meant nothing to you once was plenty, Steve.”

“When did I say that?!” Steve asked, shocked and upset. “I don’t remember saying that! It’s _not true_.”

“I might believe that – I’d _like_ to believe that – but you were completely sober when you said what happened between us was just sex,” Danny pointed out, trying hard to hide how difficult it was to talk about it at all. He had felt it like a punch to the gut when Steve said it was just sex that day in the parking lot, and even after a few weeks it still hurt to think about it.

“I didn’t mean it like that,” Steve said quickly, still upset. “I meant you shouldn’t be so _worried_ about it, not that I don’t _care_ about you. You’re the most important person in my _life_.”

“Which is why you made a date with Cath _right after that_ ,” Danny said, unable to keep some of how he felt about that from showing in his voice. “It must not have meant very much to you if you didn’t even wait a _day_ before you wanted to hook up with someone else.”

“I had to ask her for a big favor so I invited her over for steaks to pay her back,” Steve said with a frown. “I didn’t try to _hook up_ with her.”

Danny snorted. “Right, which is why you were wearing that just-got-laid smirk of yours the morning after she hit port.”

“We’re _friends_ , Danny, she told you that,” Steve said, looking upset and a little confused. “We hadn’t seen each other in a long time and you _still_ weren’t talking to me, and she had been stuck on ship being celibate for _months_ so we had a little fun together. It was just sex, it didn’t _mean_ anything.”

Danny stared at Steve for a moment and then all the fight went out of him as he realized Steve just wasn’t going to understand. He had only known Steve a short time, but he already couldn’t imagine not having Steve in his life, which scared him almost as much as it hurt knowing he was in so far over his head that he was practically _pining_ for someone that didn’t seem to feel the same way at all. “I think you should just go, Steve.”

“No, I won’t, not yet,” Steve said quickly, frowning and unhappy. “Cath was right when she told you I’m not good at this, and I _know_ I’m saying things all wrong again, but I _need_ for us to fix this. Cath has been my best friend for years now, and yeah, okay, we usually fuck when she’s in port, but we’re _not_ a couple. We never have been. It’s just … it’s _easy_ for us to be together. The sex is good, and we both know exactly what the other expects from us so we don’t have to worry about any drama over it.”

“You said it was just sex between us too, Steve,” Danny pointed out, trying hard to control his expression. He felt like a fool for being so hurt over it all, and he really didn’t want Steve to see how deeply he had been affected by one night that never should have happened to begin with. “And I made it pretty easy for you to get what you wanted from me. I knew I shouldn’t have, not while you were so drunk, but I was stupid and I believed you when you said it wasn’t just that you were horny and I was convenient.”

“God, Danny, no,” Steve said softly, his expression pained and sad. “I just said that because I wanted you to stop panicking over it, not because that night didn’t matter to me. It _did_. Just tell me what you need me to do or say to prove that to you and I’ll gladly do it.”

“I need to know what you want from me, Steve,” Danny said quietly. “I need to know where you really stand here.”

“I want us to be partners, _real_ partners,” Steve murmured, still looking upset. “I want to wake up every morning with you in my bed and spend my days listening to you yell at me.” Steve paused and visibly gathered his courage then before he added softly, “I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”

Danny was silent for a few moments, words failing him as he stared into Steve’s eyes, seeing the worry and fear there as he remembered that night on Steve’s beach and how upset Steve had been when he thought Danny didn’t want him. Danny had been _sure_ then that he knew what Steve wanted from him, sure that it wasn’t just him that was fighting serious feelings for his partner, but the way Steve had acted in the days and weeks after that had made Danny think he must have been fooling himself that night. Seeing Steve so upset and vulnerable again made him realize that Steve’s behavior over the last few weeks might have been an act that Steve put on for his benefit, another case of Steve putting his true feelings behind those hard-won iron walls of his and showing the world what he thought was expected of him.

Steve meant well, Danny knew that, but he also knew that Steve had a hard time sometimes figuring out what other people wanted of him. Danny had told Steve what he wanted in no uncertain terms for just that reason, and it made him feel like a fool to finally realize that all of the pain he had felt over Steve’s apparent indifference to him was actually what he had _asked_ for. Steve was a very literal man in many ways, Danny had known that since they met, and he had told Steve not to talk to him about it again at work and then avoided him completely when they weren’t on a case, leaving Steve no chance to try to fix things he might not even have realized were broken until long after Danny was too hurt to give him a chance to fix it.

“I don’t do casual, Steve, and I don’t cheat,” Danny said quietly after a few moments, still gazing into Steve’s eyes. “If I told you to choose whether to have me in your bed or Catherine, what would you do?”

“I already made my choice,” Steve said quickly. “Cath and I had a long talk today after we saw you, and she made me really stop and think about everything and explained some stuff that I hadn’t understood.” He paused and then added, “She still wants to stay with me when she’s on leave and I want her to, but nothing is going to happen anymore. We moved her stuff out of my room before I left the house tonight.”

“And was that your idea, or hers?” Danny asked, afraid that he knew the answer. Catherine had made it pretty plain she felt like Steve wasn’t treating Danny like he should and that she wanted to get them together, but Danny really didn’t want Steve to be with him just because Catherine told him to do it. He still had no idea _why_ Catherine might want Steve to be with him, but he couldn’t doubt it was true anymore.

“Mine,” Steve replied firmly, making Danny breathe a little easier. “How I feel when I’m with her is great, but it’s never been anything like how I feel about you.”

“Because she’s a woman?” Danny asked softly.

“Because she’s not you,” Steve corrected, gazing into Danny’s eyes. “I’ve gotten off with plenty of people, Danny, men _and_ women, but I’ve never felt like this before about any of them.”

“What are you trying to say, Steve?” Danny murmured, trying hard not to let himself hope that Steve really meant what it sounded like.

“Do you remember the day we met?” Steve asked, not really answering Danny’s question. Danny nodded, and then Steve said quietly, “I knew that day in the garage that I wanted to get closer to you, wanted to _know_ you, so I told the Governor that you had intimate knowledge of the case and I couldn’t do the job without your help. That’s why she pushed through your transfer so fast.” Danny blinked at that, surprised because he hadn’t really been very much help with the case by the time it was all said and done, and Steve gave him a ghost of a smile. “I knew immediately that I wanted you working with me, but it took me a while to realize I wanted to be a lot more than your friend, or even your partner on the job.” He paused again, obviously looking for the right words before he said simply, “I love you, and I think I probably have since the first time you threatened to shoot me.”

Danny just looked at Steve for a few moments before he admitted very softly, “Falling for a crazy SEAL with a death-wish is probably the stupidest thing I’ve ever done in my life, but I was just starting to accept it and get to the point I was ready to admit I’m not as straight as I thought when you kissed me that night. That’s why it hurt so damned bad the next day when you said what happened between us didn’t matter.”

“I’m sorry,” Steve murmured, his expressive eyes giving away how upset he was now that Danny was really looking for it again. “I _never_ meant you to take it like that, Danno. That night meant _everything_ to me, I’m just really shitty at putting how I feel into words, especially when it really matters.”

Danny asked softly, “So where do you want to go from here?”

“I want you come home with me,” Steve replied immediately.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?” Danny asked.

“Either that, or stand up so I can fold out that torture device you call a bed,” Steve said quietly. “My bed’s a lot more comfortable going by how you complain about that thing, but we can stay here if you want.”

“Nothing’s happening tonight, Steve,” Danny pointed out, quiet but firm. “Even if my knee wasn’t hurting like hell, I’m not jumping into this feet first again, especially not when I’m still a little loopy on beer and pills and I don’t know how much you’ve had to drink tonight.”

“I’ve had one beer today besides this one,” Steve said softly, “but I’m not asking you for anything like that. I just want to hold you, if you’ll let me.”

“Okay,” Danny said softly, beginning to relax. He was sure that Steve was being honest with him, if only because Steve was a crappy liar, but he couldn’t quite let himself believe that everything could be fixed so quickly. “I think I can handle that.”

Steve smiled slowly, the expression in his eyes shifting to something gentle and warm as he murmured, “ _Mahalo, hiwahiwa_.”

Danny’s lips twitched into a hint of a smile. “English, Steve.”

“I said thank you,” Steve repeated, smiling a little wider.

“I understood that part,” Danny said patiently. “What does _hiwahiwa_ mean, though? I haven’t heard that one before.”

Steve was still smiling as he said simply, “Beloved.”

Danny just gazed into Steve’s eyes for a few moments before he asked, “We staying here or not?”

“We can stay if that’s what you want,” Steve replied immediately, still smiling.

“What about Catherine and Mary?” Danny asked.

“They’re grown women, they don’t need me around,” Steve said confidently. “There’s food in the fridge and menus for takeout by the phone in the kitchen if they get hungry, and Cath is armed and knows where I keep the rest of the weapons. They’ll be fine.”

“Sure, but they’ll worry when you don’t come home,” Danny pointed out.

“No they won’t,” Steve disagreed. “I called Cath when I realized where I was going, and she said she’d tell Mare.”

“When you realized where you were going?” Danny repeated, his eyebrows lifting.

Steve expression turned sheepish as he nodded. “I was just going for a run on the beach when I left the house, or at least I thought I was, but after a while I turned inland to head cross-country. I realized I was headed here a little while after that, so I stopped and called Cath next time I hit a high enough ridge to get a signal.”

“You ran _eight miles_ in the middle of the night?” Danny asked incredulously, his eyes widening. “Seriously?”

Steve nodded, looking even more sheepish. “It’s not like it was difficult or anything. I usually run twice that far at least once a week.”

“There’s nothing but _mountains_ between my place and yours, Steve,” Danny pointed out, surprised. “Little ones, sure, but they still count as mountains.”

“I like running in the Kuliouou Reserve,” Steve said with a little shrug, smiling again. “Especially at night or early in the morning. There’s never anyone around except me and the wildlife.”

“And what would you have done if I made you leave when you got here?” Danny asked.

Steve’s smile faded a little. “I would have headed back home, I guess.”

Danny looked at him for a moment and then murmured with a slow smile, “That’s probably a good idea, actually.”

Steve looked surprised and confused. “What? Why?”

“Because you’re right,” Danny said, smiling. “I know you’ll want to spend time with Catherine tomorrow and your bed _is_ a lot more comfortable.”

Steve grinned suddenly, pleased. “Worth walking up all those stairs?”

“Yep,” Danny replied, smiling wider. “Especially if someone might be willing to bring me some food tomorrow so I don’t have to hobble back down them again until Monday.”

“I can do that,” Steve agreed with a wide, happy grin.

“I thought maybe you could,” Danny said, unable to keep from grinning back at Steve.

Steve just grinned at him for a few moments longer and then suddenly stood. “What clothes do you want for Monday?”

“I’ll get ‘em,” Danny said, reaching up to offer Steve his water. “Take this and give me a hand up.”

Steve shook his head, moving towards the small closet that held Danny’s clothes. “No, _I’ll_ get them. You stay off that leg until we head out to the car.”

Danny twisted to watch Steve. “I’ve been taking care of myself just fine since I got out of high school, Steve, and I’ve blown out my knee _twice_ since then.” He snorted. “Three times, counting now.”

“Yeah, well, now you don’t _have_ to do it all,” Steve replied, not looking at Danny. “Are you gonna tell me what you want to wear, or am I picking it out for you?”

“I’m _not_ wearing jeans and a t-shirt to work,” Danny said slowly, feeling a little odd about letting Steve help him even though he was glad to avoid walking any more than he absolutely had to. “If you’ll stick with the clothes I usually wear to work, then whatever you choose will be alright, I guess.”

“I can do that,” Steve agreed, reaching into the closet to grab Danny’s favorite slate blue shirt and then taking out a pair of dark grey pants before he turned to look at Danny. “Can I talk you into forgetting the tie?”

“Nope,” Danny said, smiling. “There’s a blue and grey striped one that goes well with those.”

Steve looked at him a moment and then turned back towards the closet to inspect the tie rack hanging on the inside of the door. “The one your mom got you for your birthday?”

“Yeah,” Danny said, surprised but pleased as he watched Steve get the right tie and then turn back toward him, draping the tie around the neck of the shirt he was holding. “I’m kind of amazed you remember that, though.”

Steve smiled slightly, moving towards the couch with the clothes as he said simply, “It seemed important to you.”

“Yeah, it is,” Danny agreed softly, looking up at Steve.

Steve just smiled at him for a few moments and then murmured, “You need anything else before we go?”

“Shoes,” Danny said, amused. “Socks and underwear would be good, too, and something to wear around the house tomorrow. I might not mind you seeing me in my boxers, but it’s a little different with your sister and Catherine.”

Steve smiled a little wider. “The boxers cover as much as swim trunks would.”

Danny let out a little snort of a laugh. “Trunks aren’t near as short, and they don’t turn _transparent_ when they get wet like these boxers do. If I manage to spill a glass of water or something, I’ll end up as good as naked.”

Steve grinned suddenly, looking just a bit wicked. “Oh yeah?”

“Don’t even think about it,” Danny said with a laugh, pointing towards the closet and the pile of boxes that filled the lower half of the tiny space. “Socks and underwear are in the top box on the left, sweats and t-shirts are in the one on the right. Toss me a t-shirt and some sweats for now, too, and I’ll get my shoes on the way out.”

Steve turned and went obediently back towards the closet. “And a bag to put it all in?”

“My gym bag is on the top shelf next to my hiking boots,” Danny replied, watching Steve with a slight smile and wondering if everything between them could really go back to the easy way they got along before they had sex. He hoped so, both for himself and for Steve, who he thought spent entirely too much time alone, but he couldn’t quite believe it yet. He had learned young that nothing important to him would come easy.

Steve turned away from the closet again after a few minutes with the gym bag, Danny’s work clothes still on the hangers, a t-shirt, and sweats, smiling. “Ready to go?”

“Yeah, I am,” Danny agreed quietly, smiling as he turned back around to wrestle his bad leg off the couch again.

“Can I help?” Steve asked, moving closer to Danny.

“No, I got it.” Danny gritted his teeth as he levered his leg off the pillows and dropped his foot to the floor, making a mental note to give the physical therapist hell next time he saw the guy. His knee hurt more than it had right after he hurt it again, and Danny was fairly certain that the ‘therapy’ that day had actually damaged his ACL even worse. If the pain level wasn’t drastically improved by Monday morning, he knew he’d be making another trip to see Dr Oh, and probably end up getting another cortisone shot and maybe even a set of crutches. Putting even a little weight on his right leg hurt like hell, and walking was an exercise in torturing himself.

Steve dropped the t-shirt and sweats next to Danny on the couch and then put his hand on Danny’s bare shoulder to rub it slowly as he asked, “How long has it been since you had your pills?”

“I had an ibuprofen eight and a muscle relaxer around ten o’clock,” Danny replied, leaning into Steve’s touch a bit without really noticing it. “I can’t have another pain pill until breakfast.”

“How about Tylenol?” Steve asked. “Oh told you that you could take both, didn’t he?”

“When it’s really bad, yeah,” Danny agreed, “but I don’t want to do that unless I have to, especially not when I had a few beers tonight.” He smiled up at Steve. “And I can handle it right now anyway.”

“If you’re sure,” Steve said quietly, still looking concerned.

Danny lifted his hand to cover Steve’s on his shoulder, murmuring, “I am. It hurts, but I’ve been through worse.” He gave Steve’s hand a squeeze and then added, “Why don’t you go put that stuff in the car while I get dressed so we can go?”

“Sure,” Steve agreed, nodding. “Keys?”

“Hanging on the hook by the door,” Danny replied, smiling. “Right out in plain sight where they always are.”

Steve looked towards the door and then laughed slightly and looked back down at Danny. “Of course they are. I’ll be right back.”

“Okay, babe,” Danny agreed, letting go of Steve’s hand.

Steve took the hint and moved away towards the door, grabbing the keys to the Camaro and then disappearing outside, leaving the door open a few inches behind him.

Danny picked up the shirt Steve had put on the couch by him and pulled it on, then remembered his brace was in the bathroom and sighed, reaching for his cane. He levered himself to his feet, gritting his teeth at the pain, and then began to limp slowly towards the bathroom as he muttered to himself, “Of _course_ I left the damned thing in the other room. Wonderful idea, really.”

“Where are you going?” Steve asked when Danny was barely half way to the bathroom, hurrying into the apartment and moving quickly to grab Danny’s right elbow to try to help.

“I need to put my knee brace back on if I’m going to be doing much walking,” Danny explained, stopping as he looked at Steve. “I’ve got to do that before I put on the sweats, so I was going to go get it.”

“Sit back down,” Steve said, trying to guide Danny to the nearby arm of the couch. “ _I’ll_ get the brace. Where is it?”

“The one I need to wear now is on the counter in the bathroom, and the other one is hanging in the shower,” Danny said, letting Steve help him back to the couch. “I’ll need both of them if I’m going to be able to take a shower at your place. And grab my pills, they're on the counter, too.” He lowered himself to sit on the arm of the couch, careful not to bend his knee too far, and then he looked up at Steve and added, "There's trash bags under the sink to put the wet brace in."

Steve made sure that Danny was settled comfortably and then gave him a sly little smile. “I hope you’ll need a shower before Monday.” He turned away to walk quickly towards the bathroom without waiting for Danny to reply.

Danny watched him go, grinning even though he was starting to think that taking things slower this time around probably wasn’t going to happen, not once he and Steve were in the same bed. He vividly remembered everything they had done their first night together, and he wanted to do it all again just as much as Steve seemed to, if not more.

 

~*~

 

Danny was grateful for Steve’s insistence on helping him by the time they were on the front porch of Steve’s house, gritting his teeth as he decided he’d have to grab a glass of milk or something when they got inside and take a couple of Tylenol after all. Just climbing the two low steps up onto Steve’s front porch had been pure hell and left him pretty sure he’d be crashing on Steve’s couch instead of going up to Steve’s bed, even though he really didn’t like the idea much. Steve’s couch was fairly comfortable, sure, but the thought of sleeping alone when Steve was just upstairs and wanted his company wasn’t really a welcome one.

Steve reached for the doorknob to open it when they paused by the door, staring at the door in surprise when the knob didn’t turn. “What the hell?”

Danny snorted softly, amused despite the pain in his knee as he said dryly, “Obviously somebody in there tonight is better at remembering to lock the door than you are.”

Steve looked quickly at Danny, reaching into the pocket of his shorts for his phone. “There’s no _reason_ to lock the door.” He flipped his phone open one-handed, thumbing speed dial and then five and lifting the phone to his ear as the call went through.

“It’s smart to lock your doors,” Danny said quietly, smiling. “ _I_ always lock up at night.”

Steve rolled his eyes and said, “Your place is in a crappy part of town, not out here, and all of my neighbors have known a cop lives here since _Dad_ was a rookie.” He was quiet a moment and then said, “Finally! Get your ass down here and unlock the door, woman.”

Danny snorted, grinning and fairly sure that Steve must be talking to Catherine, if only because he hadn’t gotten the feeling Mary would put up with Steve talking to her like that. Not when he expected her to do anything for him, at least. Mary was a real spitfire and didn't let Steve order her around just because he was older.

There was some kind of response from whichever of the girls Steve had called, and then Steve said, “I don’t care if you’re dressed or not, come let us in.” Steve paused for another murmur of sound from the phone and then he nodded. “Yes, _us_. Danny’s with me and he really needs to get off his bad leg, it’s giving him hell tonight.” He listened for a moment and then let out a little huff of a laugh. “Oh, so for _him_ you’ll hurry, huh? Shows me how _I_ rate.”

Danny let out a soft laugh, surprised.

“Forget it, I saw him first,” Steve said then, laughing for a moment before he broke off abruptly to look at his phone and then at Danny. “She hung up on me!”

The click of the door being unlocked was surprisingly loud and then Catherine threw open the door as Danny snickered and said, “Sounded to me like you deserved it.”

“You tell him, Danny,” Catherine said cheerfully, grinning at him. She was wearing nothing but a tank top and a skimpy pair of black lace panties, but she didn’t hesitate to move to Danny’s side, pushing Steve out of her way. “Tell me you grabbed him some clean clothes so he can stay the rest of the weekend, Steve. He needs to be staying off that leg as much as possible.”

“I did!” Steve said quickly. “More clothes for him to relax in, and clothes for work Monday so there’s no reason for him to go anywhere before then.”

“Good boy,” Catherine said approvingly, sliding her arm around Danny’s waist and then pulling his right arm up over her shoulders as she looked at Steve. “Go get his stuff out of he car.”

Steve rolled his eyes and muttered a sarcastic, “Yes sir,” but Danny noticed that he didn’t hesitate to do what Catherine told him to do.

Catherine looked at Danny, smirking as she stage-whispered, “He takes orders _very_ well. Just for future reference.”

“I heard that!” Steve said sharply.

Danny’s lips twitched as he tried not to laugh, a little surprised at how Catherine was acting. She obviously didn’t have any problems with him and Steve being in a relationship, and seemed to really like Danny, which kind of amazed him. “Good to know.”

Catherine winked at Danny and then nodded towards the open door as she said in a more normal tone, “Why don’t we get you inside, huh?”

“Inside would be good,” Danny agreed, starting forward with a wince as his bad leg took his weight. “I’d like to sit down about now, for sure.”

“And I bet you’d like some ice on that knee, too,” Catherine agreed, helping him through the doorway and then moving towards the couch with him. She was surprisingly strong, supporting quite a bit of his weight without any obvious effort, and Danny was grateful for her help. She was much shorter than Steve, which made it easier for Danny to lean on her as they moved without hurting his own shoulder.

Steve hurried in the door after them, closing it behind him and then moving past them with Danny’s gym bag, which he dropped at the bottom of the stairs on his way towards the lamp by the kitchen doorway. He turned the lamp on and then headed for the sitting area as he asked, “Couch, or recliner?”

“Couch,” Danny said quickly. “I might be there a while and it’s more comfortable.”

Steve didn’t look like he liked that idea but he didn’t hesitate to move to the couch, pushing away the coffee table to give Danny and Catherine more room to maneuver.

“You should _stay_ on the couch, Danny,” Catherine said firmly. “You don’t need to be climbing stairs on a blown-out knee. You’ll end up on crutches, or worse, needing surgery.”

Danny made a face as Catherine helped him turn by the couch. “I’m pretty sure the doc would already say it needs surgery again, the way it feels tonight.” He let go of Catherine to lower himself onto the couch, gritting his teeth at the stab of pain as he bent his right leg and taking a moment to just breathe before he went on. “I think the damn physical therapist made me tear the ACL even worse. I _know_ it hurts a hell of a lot more than it did, and it’s nothing like it has been when I just walk around too much.”

“If he did, you need to report him,” Catherine said with a frown, kneeling gracefully at Danny’s feet to carefully remove his shoes as she looked over her shoulder at Steve. “Go get that big bag of corn out of the freezer, baby. Icing his knee will help with the pain.”

“Good idea,” Steve said, hurrying towards the kitchen. “You want a drink or anything, Danno?”

“I wouldn’t mind a glass of milk or maybe some cheese or something,” Danny said, looking over his shoulder to watch Steve and trying very hard not to really think about Catherine being so close to him. He loved Steve, he didn’t doubt that at all, but he was still human, too. It had been a very long time since a mostly naked woman had gotten anywhere near him, much less knelt at his feet in her underwear. Catherine was just his type, a smart sexy brunette with enough confidence in herself for three people, and he couldn’t quite keep from reacting to her being so close. “I’m gonna have to take a couple Tylenol if I want to sleep, but I shouldn’t do it without some milk or some actual food in my stomach. Doc’s afraid I’m gonna give myself ulcers if I’m not careful.”

“We’ve got milk,” Steve said, disappearing into the kitchen. “How about some fruit with it?”

“If you come back in here with pineapple in any form, Steven, I swear I’m going home,” Danny said quickly, making Steve laugh. “Just stick with the milk.”

Catherine giggled softly, drawing Danny’s attention back to her as she set his shoes aside and then settled comfortably back on her heels between his feet and teased, “You don’t like the state fruit, huh?”

“I _hate_ pineapple,” Danny corrected with a little bit of a laugh, having to work at it a little to keep his gaze on her face. “ _Especially_ on pizza.”

“No wonder I like you,” Catherine said with a sudden grin. “It’s about time I found someone on this island who _agrees_ with me.”

“You’re both insane,” Steve called from the kitchen, laughing. “Ham and pineapple on pizza is a _tradition_!”

“No, it’s an _abomination_ ,” Danny countered quickly, looking towards the kitchen again. “Like spam chili! It’s just plain _wrong_.”

“In oh so many ways,” Catherine agreed with a snicker, putting her hands on the couch on either side of Danny’s knees for leverage as she stood up.

Danny couldn’t help but watch her, his gaze roaming a bit before he caught himself admiring her breasts and jerked his attention back up to Catherine’s face.

Catherine was smirking, obviously pleased and smug as she murmured, “Look all you want, Danny. I don’t mind. The way I see it, we’re practically family.”

Danny blushed, feeling like his face was on fire as he said softly, “Which would be why _I_ mind.”

“You’re sweet,” Catherine said, still smug as she reached out and patted his cheek gently. “Silly, but sweet.” She stepped back, giving him a measuring look as she asked, “Are you going to be smart and stretch out on the couch to get comfortable for the night, or insist on trying the stairs?”

“I’m not sure yet,” Danny said, grateful for the abrupt change of subject. “I’d rather sack out in a nice comfortable bed and stay there until I absolutely _have_ to move, but this couch is starting to look pretty good right now. It has the definite advantage of being closer, even if it does mean a longer walk to get to a bathroom.”

“Aren’t you planning on sleeping with Steve?” Catherine asked, looking amused. “I know that’s where he wants you.”

“I was,” Danny said slowly, watching Catherine closely for some sign she didn’t like that idea. “That was the plan until I had to walk out to the car, anyway. Now I’m not so sure I can even make it up there.”

“I’ll get you up there,” Steve said, walking back out of the kitchen. “And down again on Monday, too.”

Danny turned his head to look at Steve, pleased to see he was carrying a glass of milk, a bag of frozen corn, and a York peppermint patty. “And just how do you intend to do that?”

“I’ll carry you,” Steve said cheerfully, grinning as he moved around the couch to sit on the coffee table in front of Danny. “That way you won’t put any more stress on your knee. I’ve had to haul guys a lot bigger than you out of hostile situations, and carried them a lot farther, too, so it’ll be easy.”

Danny laughed, surprised. “Okay, one? Short jokes are _not_ the way to get lucky with me _ever again_ , Steven, just so you know.” Catherine snickered at that but Danny pretended not to hear her as he added, “And two, I am _not_ a damsel in distress. I don’t need _or_ want a big tough man such as yourself to sweep me off my feet and carry me off to his bed. I’ll be just fine sleeping on the couch.”

“But _I_ won’t,” Steve pointed out, offering Danny the bag of corn. “And I intend to sleep wherever you do.”

“I’m glad you want to be with me, I really am, but no,” Danny said firmly. He looked down, shifting his bad leg to straighten it a little more and then laying the bag of frozen corn on the knee joint and holding it there with his right hand as he looked back at Steve. “I will be fine on the couch, and _you_ will survive a night in your own bed without me. You’ve been doing just fine until now, and you’ll be fine however long it takes my knee to heal enough I can drag my sorry ass up those stairs.”

Steve shook his head stubbornly. “No, if you’re sleeping down here, so am I. You’ll need help to get to the bathroom.”

Catherine laughed. “God, you two are _adorable_.” Danny and Steve both looked at her in surprise as she added, “Even though you’re both being kind of stupid.”

“Hey!” Steve said, letting out a surprised little laugh. “Be nice!”

Catherine smirked at Steve. “That _was_ nice, honey.” She turned her attention to Danny and said firmly, “You stop being so all-fired _macho_ and let Steve help you get around without screwing up your knee even more.” She looked at Steve, adding, “And _you_ listen to him when he has a good reason for you to do something you don’t want to do. I know it’s hard for you to believe anyone could possibly know better than you do, Steve honey, but Danny’s got a good head on his shoulders, so just pretend he’s me and _listen_ to him.”

“You just told _him_ to listen to _me_!” Steve pointed out quickly, indignant. “ _I’m_ the one who’s right this time! There’s no reason for him to be on the couch instead of in a comfortable bed with the bathroom just across the hall, especially when I can get him there without making his knee worse.”

“I agree,” Catherine agreed, amused, “but I know you, honey, and if I don’t nip this in the bud now you’ll think you’re _always_ going to be right, which is very far from the truth. Just because something wasn’t your idea doesn’t make it automatically wrong.”

“I _know_ that,” Steve said, rolling his eyes. “And I _do_ listen to him. I listen to him _all the time._ ”

Danny snorted. “If I yell at you long enough, yeah.”

Steve looked at Danny, grinning suddenly. “That still counts as listening.”

Danny laughed, shaking his head as he waved his left hand towards the glass Steve was still holding. “Give me that and go get the Tylenol out of my bag.”

Steve gave Danny the glass of milk and dropped the peppermint patty on the couch next to him, then headed for where he had dropped Danny’s bag as he said, “That won’t work all the time, no matter what she said about me taking orders, Danno.”

“I’ll worry about that when the time comes,” Danny said, smiling as he took a sip of his milk.

Catherine moved to sit on the couch next to Danny, tucking her feet under her and curling up against Danny’s right side as he looked at her in surprise. Catherine grinned impishly at him, leaning closer to reach across him so she could grab the peppermint patty and then settling back next to him again as she started to open it, saying cheerfully, “So _you’re_ why there’s candy in the freezer now, huh?”

Danny let out a little surprised laugh. “I dunno, am I?”

“I would have to say yes, especially since he told me and Mare not to touch it,” Catherine said cheerfully, breaking off a piece of the candy to offer it to him. “I’ve known Steve since Annapolis and he’s never had candy around before now unless I was hormonal and begged him to get me chocolate. He says it’s empty calories.”

Danny took the piece of candy, snickering. “Sounds like him, alright. He’s always complaining about me eating malasadas for breakfast. Says they’re a heart attack waiting to happen.”

“Those are _wonderful_ though, aren’t they?” Catherine said quickly, grinning. “All that fried dough and sugar?”

Danny smirked. “Better than a Krispy Kreme any day.”

“Amen,” Catherine agreed, grinning widely as she popped a bite of the candy into her own mouth to munch happily on it.

Steve moved to sit down on the coffee table in front of them as he said dryly, “ _Danny’s_ the one who needed to eat something so he could take some pain pills, Cath. You can get your own dessert.”

“I already had ice cream,” Catherine said cheerfully, smirking at Steve when he scowled. “I just wanted a taste.”

“There’s ice cream in _this_ house?” Danny asked with a laugh, looking at Catherine again. “Seriously?”

Catherine nodded, smirking. “About half a carton of it left. Mare and I wanted something sweet while we watched a movie earlier, so we took the truck to go get some cookie dough ice cream right after Steve left.”

Danny looked at Steve. “And you brought me a little piece of candy?”

Steve snorted and held out the Tylenol to Danny as he said pointedly, “You wanted a glass of milk, I didn’t think you would want ice cream too.”

“There’s where you were wrong, babe,” Danny said, grinning as he took the Tylenol. “There is never a bad time for cookie dough ice cream.”

Catherine laughed, drawing Danny’s attention to her just as she grinned impishly at him and said, “You’re going to drive him crazy, eating real food around him all the time.”

“It’s good for him,” Danny replied, still grinning. “I figure if I tell him often enough that I _like_ dessert, sooner or later he’ll stop being surprised by it.”

“He does learn, eventually,” Catherine agreed, obviously amused and pleased. “You just have to keep beating him over the head with reality until it sinks in.”

Steve looked reluctantly amused as he asked, “Why do I suddenly have the feeling that introducing you two might not have been my best idea?”

“Because you’re not as dumb as you look?” Catherine said sweetly, making Danny snicker.

“Thanks, Cath,” Steve said dryly, standing up. “That means so much coming from you.”

“You’re welcome!” Catherine said cheerfully, grinning. “Now go get Danny some ice cream.”

“I’m going!” Steve said with a laugh, heading for the kitchen.

Catherine looked at Danny, still grinning as she said much more quietly, “See? He can learn.”

“I knew he could,” Danny agreed quietly, amused. “I’ve actually managed to get him call for back-up twice now. He doesn’t _wait_ for them yet, but I’m still working on it.”

Catherine giggled and patted Danny’s thigh familiarly. “Good luck with that, honey. You’re gonna need it. He was reprimanded half a dozen times for not waiting for reinforcements before charging into a fight, then his CO figured out he was getting the job done anyway so he stopped bothering to argue with him.”

“Joy,” Danny said, laughing slightly. “As if he wasn’t crazy enough without anyone encouraging him.”

“He definitely was,” Catherine agreed with a grin, “but the SEALs made it ten times worse. Now he scares even Team Six sometimes, and they're the boys that handle all the worst situations. It’s one of the reasons he was usually called on for the toughest missions. They knew he’d go in and do his job no matter how nasty the situation they pointed him at got.”

Danny smiled, amused and a bit resigned because really, he hadn’t expected anything else. “And now _I_ get to be his partner. Lucky, lucky me.”

Catherine grinned even wider. “Look at it this way, honey: he’s the best in the world at what he does.”

“I know,” Danny agreed, smiling at Catherine. “Sometimes it’s scary how reassuring that is.”

“You’ll get used to it,” Catherine said confidently, amused. “And he’s worth it.”

Danny’s smile widened. “Yeah, I kind of think he is.”

 

~*~

 

Catherine lifted her hand off Danny’s stomach and yawned, and then she shifted a little closer to his side as she murmured, “Does the stereo _really_ say it’s after three in the morning?”

“Yes, yes it does,” Danny agreed, relaxed and comfortable enough on the couch with Catherine that he didn’t want to move a muscle, even though he could barely keep his eyes open.

Steve had moved the ottoman so Danny could put his bad leg up on it with two of the couch pillows under his knee to prop it up a little higher, and then Steve settled in one of the chairs nearby to relax. He had watched Danny and Catherine share the bowl of ice cream, obviously enjoying seeing them together, and by the time the bowl was empty Danny didn’t even feel bad about the fact he ended up with his arm around Catherine. She seemed to need the closeness, definitely wanted it at least, and it wasn’t like it was a hardship for him to let her cuddle with him. She was funny and smart, and he had always enjoyed holding a beautiful woman.

Steve had seldom commented as Danny and Catherine ate and talked, but he had switched out the frozen veggies on Danny’s knee every ten minutes, and the two Tylenol Danny took and then the constant icing had brought the pain down to a steady ache that Danny could live with. He was pretty sure he could probably sleep through the rest of the night without trying too hard, which was good since he was exhausted.

Catherine seemed to have the same idea because she lifted her head off Danny’s shoulder then to look at him, smiling as she said, “Time for you to let Steve help you to bed, and for me to go crash in his dad’s old room.”

“You could always crash with us,” Danny offered, not bothering to stop and think about it. Catherine’s eyes widened in surprise and Danny added, “I already told Steve I’m not up for anything but sleeping anyway.”

“It won’t bother you, having me there?” Catherine asked, still surprised and obviously concerned. “I _know_ it did when you saw us kiss earlier. I felt so bad about that once I realized how thoughtless I had been.”

“That was before I knew how Steve really feels about either of us,” Danny explained quietly, smiling at Catherine. “I was hurting and seeing him kiss _anyone_ would have been rough. Now it’s different. I’m not saying I would be great with you two having sex right in front of me, but I can handle having you sleep with us.”

“Are you sure, Danny?” Catherine asked softly, still concerned. “I don’t want you to feel like you _have_ to put up with me. You don’t, honestly. I’ve known since he met you that things between Steve and I were going to change soon. I’m fine with it, _happy_ even. I’ve hoped he would find someone like you for _years_ now. I’m okay with being single, but it’s been hell on him. He was _miserable_ until you started spending so much time with him, but he refused to do anything about it.”

“I don’t feel like I have to put up with _anything_ , but now that I know you a little better, I can see why Steve likes your company so much,” Danny explained, still smiling. “If I can handle you cuddling with me when you’re damn near naked, I think I can take you sleeping in the same bed.”

Catherine actually blushed slightly, pulling away and looking embarrassed. “I’m sorry, I didn’t even think. I know _Steve_ doesn’t mind, and I like you, and—“ She broke off, blushing more. “I won’t mind sleeping alone.”

“Now, see, I think you kind of would,” Danny said, reaching for her hand to give it a squeeze. “You’re a strong lady, I’m sure, but I think you and Steve are two peas in a pod when it comes to being alone. You might not need company all the time, but you must want it pretty bad tonight if you’re willing to settle for cuddling with me, ‘cause you hardly know me.”

“But I _feel_ like I know you,” Catherine pointed out, shifting to hold Danny’s hand in both of hers as she gave him a sheepish little smile. “Steve talks about you constantly and even sends me funny pictures he takes when you aren’t paying attention.” Her smile widened as she added, “I figured out he was in love with you right after he met you, but it took him a little longer.”

Danny looked at Steve, surprised. “You called your _girlfriend_ to talk about me?”

Steve looked a little embarrassed as he corrected, “I talk to my _best friend_ about you. I told you already that it wasn’t ever like that with me and Cath.”

“Well, no, it was,” Catherine disagreed with a laugh, making Danny look at her again quickly. Catherine grinned at him, adding, “Or at least, we tried to make it that way because he and my mother get along so well, and I like him more than any other man I ever dated. It lasted about a month before we decided we were better as friends with benefits. The sex has always been great, and we get along better than we probably should considering how different we are, but we agreed a long time ago that friendship and sex, while awesome, isn’t enough for either of us.” She gave Danny’s hand a squeeze, her grin fading into a pleased, happy smile as she added, “That’s why I gave him such fits about wanting to meet you. I had to get to know the guy who finally managed to steal his heart by threatening to _shoot_ him.”

Danny laughed slightly, feeling his face heat up as he asked, “Are you sure that was it? I mean, that got his attention maybe, but he was still a pain in the ass about listening to me after that.”

Catherine giggled. “Bowing up at him and knocking some sense into his thick skull the next day helped, definitely, but he was already hooked before you two even left the garage. He’s not used to people being so completely unimpressed with him like you were.”

Danny grinned at her. “I had kind of figured that out. I get the feeling that he’s gotten away with way too much because he looks like a walking wet dream.”

Catherine laughed, nodding. “He does, and he _uses_ it, too. He’ll flirt like mad with someone if he thinks it’ll get him what he’s after, even though he never lets it go past flirting.”

“Yeah, I’ve noticed him go all smiles with a woman when he thinks it’ll help him get what he needs for a case,” Danny agreed, amused. “He’s kind of obvious about it, but they still fall for it.”

“Okay, that’s enough,” Steve said, jumping up out of the nearby chair he was sprawled in. “ _I_ am going to bed. Anyone who’s coming with me needs to say so.”

Danny looked up at Steve, smirking. “You know, saying things like that are more likely to get you what you want when I’m not perfectly comfortable where I am, babe.”

Steve blinked. “You’re making me sleep in a chair?”

Danny laughed. “ _I’m_ not making you sleep anywhere. If _you_ are stupid enough to sleep down here when you have a perfectly good bed upstairs, that’s so not my problem. I’m comfortable and I see no reason to fight my way upstairs just to have to drag my sorry ass back down tomorrow.”

“Not even if I promise to make it worth your while?” Steve asked, looking unhappy.

“And exactly how are you planning to do that?” Danny asked, amused. “I already told you, I’m not jumping right into the deep end this time around, Steven. You are _not_ getting laid tonight, and I wouldn’t hold out too much hope for tomorrow either if I was you.”

“I wasn’t _talking_ about sex,” Steve said quickly, rolling his eyes.

“What then,” Danny asked with some amusement, “could make it worth my while to let you haul me around like a sack of potatoes?”

“Breakfast in bed tomorrow?” Steve offered hopefully. “Blueberry pancakes, maybe? From scratch?”

Danny pretended to think about it and then said, “With real maple syrup? And bacon?”

“I can do that,” Steve agreed quickly, brightening. “And fresh-squeezed orange juice.”

Danny looked at Catherine. “How are his pancakes?”

“He makes _delicious_ pancakes,” Catherine said quickly, smirking. “He puts cream cheese in the batter and it does _amazing_ things to the texture.”

“That does sound good,” Danny agreed, then tilted his head, smiling at Catherine. “You going to join us, if I go up?”

Catherine nodded, looking pleased and a little grateful. “I’d love to.”

Danny nodded, looking up at Steve. “Alright, I’m convinced. How we doing this?”

Steve grinned widely, moving closer to the couch. “Lets get you on your feet, and then I’ll pick you up and we can go.”

Catherine kissed Danny’s cheek and then jumped up off the couch, grabbing the bag of frozen corn off of Danny’s knee and then walking quickly towards the kitchen as she said cheerfully, “And I’ll switch out the veggies again, then get Danny’s bag on my way up.”

“Thanks, Cath,” Steve agreed quickly as he stopped in front of Danny, “that’d be great.”

“Why do I have the feeling I’m gonna regret this?” Danny half-asked.

Steve made a face. “I really wish you wouldn’t say that so often.”

“I’m usually right,” Danny pointed out, “and I probably will be this time, too.”

Steve’s expression shifted to something a little bit pained as he asked quietly, “You still don’t trust me?”

Danny blinked and then let out a little laugh. “Oh babe, no. I meant I’d regret _standing up_ , not sleeping with you. It’s gonna hurt like a bitch to get up, and probably piss off my knee again just when it’s stopped hurting so bad.”

Steve brightened. “Then you shouldn’t stand up.” He moved closer without giving Danny a chance to argue, bending forward so he was suddenly nose to nose with Danny as he murmured, “And I’ll try not to hurt your leg.” He kissed Danny before he could reply, just a fleeting press of lips, and then suddenly he bent further to put his right shoulder against Danny’s belly and was hoisting Danny up over his shoulder like he weighed _half_ what he did.

Danny let out a surprised squawk, grabbing Steve’s waist as he blurted, “Give a guy some _warning_ , Steven!”

Steve’s right arm wrapped securely around Danny’s thighs then to hold on then and Danny winced at a sudden stab of pain in his knee, just barely managing to keep from letting out a pained noise.

“Just be still,” Steve said, sounding amused as he lifted his left hand over his shoulder and added, “And give me your arm.”

“How can I _possibly_ do both, Steven?” Danny asked, trying hard to sound as normal as possible.

“Just do it, smartass,” Steve said with a little huff of a laugh, so Danny shifted enough to put his right arm over Steve’s shoulder. Steve grabbed it securely and then said, “Thank you.”

“Can we get this over with? I feel like I’m on my way to be spitted for a barbecue or something.”

Catherine laughed at them as she came out of the kitchen, teasing, “Wow, Danny. Steve’s right, you have a _perfect_ ass.”

Danny hid his face against Steve’s back, flushing hotly as he muttered, “I’m gonna pretend I didn’t hear that.”

Steve snickered and started towards the stairs, obviously being careful to keep Danny’s right leg very still, and Danny bit his lip as he concentrated on not making a sound. He didn’t have the heart to tell Steve that keeping his leg completely straight like he was doing hurt like hell, especially since he knew there wasn’t really any better way for Steve to easily carry him, and walking up the stairs just plain wasn’t something Danny could do at the moment. He could have slept on the couch, and he would have if Steve hadn’t been so determined to get him to sleep upstairs with him, but if he was honest with himself, he really wanted to sleep in Steve’s bed anyway. He’d had enough of being alone and lonely, and he knew Steve felt the same way, so there was no reason for either of them to be miserable any longer.

Catherine went ahead of them up the stairs, opening the door to Steve’s room and then pulling back the covers on Steve’s neatly made bed before she stepped aside to let Steve put Danny down. Steve was still staying in the room he had lived in as a boy, though he had gotten rid of the old single bed and had a queen-sized bed now that didn't go well at all with the scarred old dresser and end table. An open door to the right of the room led to the tiny closet, which was full of Steve’s cargo pants and shirts, and there was just enough room around the bed to walk around it easily.

Steve stopped by the bed, running his right hand over the back of Danny’s left thigh as he asked quietly, “How do you want to do this, Danno? Fast and get it over with, or try to be careful?”

“Just get it over with,” Danny answered immediately, unable to keep the strain from showing in his voice.

“Gotcha.” Steve took him at his word and bent forward as he ducked out from under Danny’s right arm, putting him down on the bed quickly. Danny couldn’t quite hold back a whimper as he grabbed his knee, and Steve immediately blurted, “I'm sorry.”

Danny shook his head, looking up at Steve as he carefully rubbed his knee. “Don’t be, babe. I couldn’t have done any better. It’s _gonna_ hurt, that’s just a fact of life for the next few months.”

“I know, but I hate hurting you,” Steve replied, looking unhappy. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

“A couple of the couch pillows to go under my knee, maybe?” Danny asked hopefully. “It’s supposed to help with the swelling if I prop it up, and that’s supposedly going to make it hurt a little less.”

“I can do that,” Steve said, turning and walking quickly out of the room.

Catherine moved around to the right side of the bed, climbing on it and crawling across to kneel next to Danny and then offering him a familiar bag of frozen peas as she gave him a sympathetic smile and murmured, “Time to ice it some more?”

“Definitely,” Danny agreed, taking the bag of peas and settling it over his knee before he looked back at Catherine. “Thanks, Cath.”

Catherine smiled. “You don’t have to thank me, Danny.”

“I do, though,” Danny disagreed softly, hoping that having to go downstairs again would take Steve long enough that he could say a few things. “I can’t even begin to tell you how much I appreciate what you did for me today.”

Catherine smiled. “I like you a lot, but I didn’t do it for you. Steve’s my best friend in the world and I would do _anything_ to make him happy. The fact I could make you happy at the same time by getting him to realize what he needed to do is good, but I did it for him.”

“I get that,” Danny agreed softly, smiling. “I’m still grateful, though.” He paused and then admitted even more quietly, “I had almost given up.”

Catherine shifted closer, taking Danny’s free hand in hers as she looked into his eyes and said firmly, “Never, _ever_ give up on him. He would die for you without the slightest regret, sweetheart, and be _glad_ he could give his life to make yours better. I know he’s _really_ bad at putting how he feels into words sometimes, and he can be oblivious as hell to a lot of things, but if you’ll just make sure he knows what you need from him, he’ll move heaven and earth to give it to you.”

“I’ll remember,” Danny promised quietly, giving Catherine’s hand a squeeze. “I still figure I owe you, though.”

Catherine looked into his eyes for a moment and then asked, “That’s not why you asked me to stay tonight, is it?”

“Of course not,” Danny said immediately, surprised. “I meant what I said. Nothing’s going to happen anyway, and it’s not like having a beautiful woman in bed with me is going to be _traumatic_ or something.” Catherine giggled slightly at that and Danny grinned at her, adding, “I mean, sure, I love him no matter how insane he is, but that doesn’t mean I’ve gone blind or stupid.” He paused. “Well, okay, maybe you could argue the stupid part, if you wanted to. He _did_ get me shot the day after I met him, and I still fell for him like a ton of bricks despite the fact I _thought_ I was straight, but I’m gonna plead insanity and blame it all on him. He makes me _crazy_.”

Catherine laughed and kissed Danny’s cheek soundly. “I’m so glad he’s got you, Danny. He needs someone to remind him to _live_ every dayinstead of devoting every waking minute of his life to his work. Protecting those who can’t protect themselves is all well and good, and I’m proud that he wants to do that with his life, but he needs you and Grace and even Kono and Chin to remind him to stop and smell the flowers a little more often.”

Steve walked into the room then, and Danny and Catherine both looked towards him to watch him with amusement. Steve closed the bedroom door behind him with his foot because his arms were full of more couch pillows than Danny had known were in the house, looking pleased as he said, “I got ‘em.”

Danny snickered. “Babe, I said a _couple_ of couch pillows, not every pillow you could find down there.”

“I figured you might want them tomorrow,” Steve pointed out, carrying the pillows towards the chair in one corner of the room. “To lean back against so you can stay in bed and still be comfortable. I was going to move the TV and DVD player from Dad’s room in here in the morning so we can watch movies or something, and you’ll want to sit up for that.”

Danny smiled, surprised. “That actually makes a lot of sense.”

“I know,” Steve agreed, grinning suddenly as he dropped his armload of pillows on the chair, then took two of the larger ones out of the pile and moved to the bed with them. “Get comfortable and then I’ll help you get the pillows under your knee.”

Catherine kissed Danny’s cheek again and then moved over, patting the middle of the bed as she smiled and said, “Come on, Danny. Scoot that perfect ass of yours over here in the middle so we can both cuddle with you tonight.”

Danny laughed even though he knew he was blushing again as he scooted over, flinching only a little as he moved his bad leg. “You keep talking about my ass like that and I’m going to start thinking you have ulterior motives, Cath.”

“Who, me?” Catherine asked, looking entirely too innocent to actually _be_ innocent.

Steve snickered. “You two can figure out whether you’re going to do more than flirt or not _tomorrow_. The sun’s coming up in a couple of hours.”

Danny looked at Steve. “Which reminds me, close the shades. I do _not_ want to get up at the ass-crack of dawn on _Sunday_ morning.”

Catherine laughed. “He’ll be awake at dawn Hawaii-time even with the shades closed. He always is, even if he’s below-decks on a ship.”

Danny looked at her for a moment and then at Steve. “Tell me she’s kidding.”

“I won’t wake you up that early, I promise,” Steve said quickly, looking amused as he closed the shades on the window over the bed. “Not today, anyway.”

“You’d better not,” Danny said firmly, “or you can just go sleep on the couch.”

Catherine started laughing as Steve protested, “It’s _my_ bed!”

“It is,” Danny agreed, “but _you_ were the one who showed up at my place at one in the morning and practically begged me to come home with you because you couldn’t stomach the thought of me sleeping in my own bed, _then_ kept me up half the night and hauled me up here because your couch wasn’t good enough either, so if you can’t let me get some _sleep_ we’re gonna have a problem, babe.”

Danny almost laughed at the way that made Steve _pout_. It reminded him of Grace’s face every time he told her that he couldn’t get her a puppy because he wasn’t allowed to have pets in his apartment. Thinking about his daughter made his eyes widen as he realized he’d have to explain his relationship with Steve not only to Grace, but to Rachel, too. He looked down, biting his lower lip and staring at his bad knee as he thought about it. Grace probably wouldn’t be upset – Steve lived at the beach, after all, which was Grace’s favorite place besides the Honolulu zoo and aquarium, and she had liked Steve when she met him at that football game that had caused Danny so much trouble with Rachel – but Rachel was sure to be a pain in the ass about him dating someone he worked with.

“What is it, Danno?” Steve asked suddenly, and Danny looked back up at him in surprise to see Steve was frowning. “You went from laughing to worried like somebody flipped a switch.”

“I just realized I’m gonna have to tell Rachel about us sometime very soon,” Danny admitted, lifting his gaze back to Steve’s eyes. “She’s gonna be a pain in the ass about it, I’m sure.”

“Is she homophobic?” Catherine asked, making Danny look at her quickly in surprise. She was frowning as she added, “Or is she just still in love with you?”

“Neither one,” Danny said quickly. “Rach couldn’t care less if Steve’s a guy, I don’t think, and she doesn’t care if I hook up with someone, but she _will_ have a fit about him being a cop. She already thinks Gracie’s got one too many cops in her life, namely me.”

Catherine smiled suddenly. “Steve’s not a cop, he’s a SEAL, which is a completely different thing.” She patted Danny’s good leg, adding, “Give her a call tomorrow, and if she gives you any trouble, you just give _me_ the phone. I’m sure that she and I can come to an understanding, woman to woman.”

Danny just looked at Catherine for a moment before he said, “Only if you promise not to tell her you’re sleeping with us both this weekend. She wouldn’t understand. Rachel’s idea of kinky is showering together.” He paused and then added, “Without any actual sex even _involved_.”

Catherine laughed. “I promise, sweetheart. What she doesn’t know won’t make me have to hurt her.”

Danny snickered. “Sounds good in theory.”

“Enough talking,” Steve said again, moving onto the bed on his knees next to Danny’s right side. “It’s time to get some sleep. We can all worry about Rachel tomorrow.”

“Works for me,” Danny agreed, nodding as he watched Steve move the couch cushions closer to his knee.

Steve was reaching for Danny’s calf to help lift his leg when he stopped, looking at Danny. “Shouldn’t the brace come off while you sleep?”

Danny made a face. “It’s supposed to, but I am _not_ climbing out of bed again to get rid of it. I’ll just wear it, it won’t kill me.”

“No, it should come off,” Catherine disagreed quickly. “The sweats, too. Steve puts off a lot of heat at night and you’ll be miserable.”

Danny looked at her, amused. “You just want to get me out of my clothes.”

Catherine grinned impishly. “I won’t deny it’ll be fun for me, but Steve really _is_ like a heater in bed.”

“I remember,” Danny said, still amused. “I hadn’t planned to sleep in the sweats, but he tossed me right on the bed before I could get rid of them.”

“Then let us take care of you,” Catherine said, looking pleased. “We can get them off of you.”

Danny grinned, feeling his face heat up slightly as he said, “I’m _sure_ you can.”

“C’mon, Danno,” Steve agreed, smirking. “Just lay back and do like the nice lady says.”

Danny laughed and looked at Steve. “That was _so_ wrong.”

Steve’s smirk didn’t slip at all as he put his hand on Danny’s chest to give him a gentle shove. “Just stop arguing and relax.”

Danny just looked at Steve a moment longer and then settled back on the bed, shifting a little to get comfortable against the pillows and not looking at Steve or Catherine. “Alright, but if I can’t control … certain reactions … to you two stripping off my pants, don’t think that means anything’s happening tonight.”

Catherine patted his thigh familiarly. “Don’t worry, honey, I’ve seen a hard-on before. I promise not to ride you hard and put you away wet unless I get permission first.”

Danny couldn’t keep from laughing, looking at Catherine in surprise. “Do kiss your momma with that mouth?”

Catherine grinned at him. “My mother’s got a mouth on her that’d make a porn star blush.”

“Believe that,” Steve added feelingly. “The first time I met Judith I was sure my face was going to stay red _permanently_.”

Catherine laughed and nodded, looking at Danny as she grabbed the waist of his sweats and started to tug them down with Steve helping on the other side. Danny braced his good leg on the bed and lifted his hips enough to make it a little easier for them, feeling his face heat up at how vulnerable and awkward he felt, but Catherine pretended not to notice his blush or the fact he was more than half hard just at the thought of them stripping him. “Stevie and I were fresh out of Annapolis and he was still kind of scandalized by _my_ mouth, so Mom decided that making him blush was a wonderful way to spend the leave time they gave us before our first assignments. He only had five days before his ship was supposed to make port, but she had so much fun with him. By the time we put him on the _Enterprise_ he was starting to give almost as good as he got, but he was so red-faced every time he tried it that he looked like a lobster.”

Danny snickered at that mental image, relaxing on the bed again as Catherine and Steve dragged his sweats down his legs and off, trying not to jar his bad knee along the way. “I hardly ever see him blush.”

“Becoming a SEAL mostly beat it out of him,” Catherine explained with a laugh, then patted his stomach and added, “Sit up and get rid of that shirt too, honey.”

Danny gave her an amused look. “I’ll be fine with the shirt.”

“So you say now, but in an hour you’ll wake up sweaty and grouchy,” Catherine pointed out, amused. “Steve’s sure to be all over you. He likes to cuddle, especially with someone he cares about.”

Danny looked at Steve, smiling as he remembered the night he had spent in Steve’s bed. “I remember. I ended up holding him down last time so he’d stop sleeping on top of me.”

Steve didn’t meet Danny’s gaze, looking embarrassed as he inspected the brace on Danny’s knee like it was the most fascinating thing in the world. “I was afraid to let go of you. I didn’t want to wake up alone.”

Danny’s smile faded away and then he sighed and murmured, “And the first thing I did the next morning was panic and bolt because I wanted it too much.” He reached for Steve, resting his hand on the nape of Steve’s neck as he said gently, “I’m sorry I did that to you.”

Steve shook his head slightly, still not looking at Danny. “Don’t be. I shouldn’t have stormed you like I did.”

“I’m _glad_ you made a move,” Danny disagreed quietly. “I may have put us both through hell afterwards by telling you to give me some space, but we still got here. I wouldn’t change that for anything, babe, and I’m not going anywhere this time. Not unless you _ask_ me to leave, okay?”

Steve looked at Danny, that uncertain, vulnerable look back in his eyes as he asked softly, “Are you sure that’s what you really want?”

“I knew that being with you was what I wanted before you ever even kissed me,” Danny pointed out, gazing into Steve’s eyes with a crooked little smile. “That’s why I couldn’t make myself tell you no, even though you were drunk and I was scared shitless. When I woke up the next day I found myself thinking that I never wanted to sleep without you again, and it scared the hell out of me all over again.” He smile turned even more wry as he added, “It didn’t really work out very well for me when I fell for Rachel, babe, and it took a whole lot more than one night for me to want to spend my life waking up with her in my arms. When I realized just how hard I’ve fallen for you, I panicked.” He made a face, admitting, “And it didn’t really help that I was kind of straight until I met you.”

“And then I fucked up royally later by saying it didn’t mean anything,” Steve added, obviously unhappy with himself. “I knew I had said something wrong because of how you reacted, but when I tried to ask what I had done you told me you didn’t want to talk about it yet, so I waited like you told me to.”

“It’s okay now, babe,” Danny said reassuringly, his thumb stroking over Steve’s neck. “We both made mistakes, but Cath helped fix it and it’s all done with, okay? No more regrets.”

“What if I do it again, though?” Steve murmured, worried. “I’m really crappy at making people understand how I feel.” He let out a little huff that tried and failed to be a laugh. “Half the time it doesn’t even make sense to _me_ , so I haven’t got a prayer of explaining it to anyone else.”

“If we can just remember to _talk_ when one of us is unhappy, I think we’ll be alright,” Danny said firmly. “And I won’t push you away like that ever again, I promise. I know we’re both gonna make mistakes, but we just have to remember not to sweat the small shit.”

“I hope you’re right,” Steve said quietly.

“I am,” Danny said with a confident smile, gently starting to urge Steve closer. “I’m always right, you should know that by now.”

Steve smiled, letting Danny pull him close as he murmured, “You wish.”

Danny just grinned and kissed him, humming at the way Steve’s lips parted immediately to give him access to his mouth. Danny was glad to take advantage of it, licking past Steve’s lips and against Steve’s tongue in a slow, lingering way that made Steve groan softly into the kiss.

“God, that’s hot,” Catherine murmured next to them, making them laugh and pull apart. Danny looked over at her, amused, and he blushed when he saw how intent and hungry she looked. “You know, if you two ever want to something _really_ nice for me, like for my birthday or something, you could just let me watch. I’ll be so quiet you won’t even know I’m there.”

Steve laughed again. “Forget it, Cath. I already told you, I saw him first.”

“But he’s so _sweet,_ ” Catherine countered, “and so damn _sexy_. I promise not to touch.”

“It’s so not happening,” Danny said quickly, feeling like his face was on fire even though he was grinning too and trying not to laugh. “Not anytime soon, at least. I’m still adjusting to the idea of being with him, Cath. Adding a girlfriend to the mix is not on my agenda this week, okay?”

Catherine pouted at him. “I’m not asking you to buy me flowers or anything. You don’t even have to _touch_ me, I just want to watch you fuck Stevie until he forgets his name.”

“I don’t do that kind of thing, Cath,” Danny explained, still amused even though he was blushing well down his chest. “If I care about someone, I’m an all or nothing kind of guy. I’m just not wired for casual sex.”

Catherine made a face. “But fuckbuddies are so much _easier_!”

“For you, maybe,” Danny agreed with a laugh. “For me, not so much. If I have sex with someone I care about it always leads to me getting jealous if they hook up with anyone else, and then things go bad. I like you and I don’t want to risk that, okay?”

Catherine sighed. “Alright. I’ll resign myself to friend-land, but it’s such a waste. You seem like the kind of guy that could make somebody _really_ happy if you wanted to.”

Danny smirked. “Our sex life was the one thing Rachel never complained about, I gotta admit, but I’m kind of taken now, sorry.”

“I’ll still have my imagination and Bob,” Catherine said philosophically. “I’ll get by, I promise.”

“I’m almost afraid to ask,” Danny said, amused, “but who’s Bob?”

Catherine grinned impishly at him. “My battery-operated boyfriend, otherwise known as a vibrator.” Her grin suddenly turned wicked. “I even have a harness I bought so I could use it on Stevie. He loves to bottom almost as much as he enjoys fucking someone.”

Danny snorted, trying not to laugh despite the way his face was flaming. “I knew I shouldn’t have asked.”

Steve snickered despite the fact he was blushing as he said, “No, you shouldn’t. Am I taking the brace off, Danno, or are you?”

“I’ll get it,” Danny said, giving Steve an amused look. “You go kill the light so we can get some sleep.”

“Works for me,” Steve agreed as he climbed off the bed carefully. "I need to get the lights on the stairs, too. I'll be right back."

"Okay," Danny agreed, watching Steve go before he looked back down to reach for the brace on his knee.

“Can I help?” Catherine asked as Danny started to tug at the Velcro straps on his knee brace, making him look up. She looked concerned but was still smiling, and he smiled back even though pulling at the brace hurt more than a little.

“I got it,” Danny said quickly, tugging another strap loose as he looked back down. “Thanks, though.”

“Let me know if there’s anything I _can_ do to help, okay?” Catherine said quickly.

Danny tugged the third strap loose and then smiled at Catherine just as the overhead light went out, leaving only the small lamp over the head of the bed to see by as Steve returned to the room. “I will, I promise.”

“Good,” Catherine said quickly, smiling as she kissed his cheek and then moved to settle on the bed next to him.

Steve walked back to the bed, waiting for Danny to loosen the final strap on the brace and take it off before he reached for it, murmuring, ”Lemme have that. I’ll put it on the dresser.”

Danny passed the brace over, smiling at Steve. “Thanks.” Steve just smiled back and turned away towards the dresser while Danny put the frozen peas back on his knee and then tugged his shirt off and tossed it in the floor. Steve returned to the bed after a moment, and Danny smiled a little wider as he murmured, “You need to get rid of your clothes too, babe.”

“Okay,” Steve agreed, stripping off efficiently while Danny watched, smiling.

Steve moved closer to the bed after he kicked out of his shorts, naked and not at all ashamed of it as Danny asked dryly, “No underwear?”

Steve grinned at him. “My underwear are all longer than my running shorts.”

Danny laughed. “Uh-huh, likely story.”

“It’s true,” Steve said quickly, laughing.

“Yeah, well, put something on so I won’t be tempted to forget I’m not going there tonight,” Danny said, amused. “I know you have underwear, you strip down to them at least once a week to go for a swim when you can’t be bothered to find your trunks.”

“If you insist,” Steve agreed, moving back to his dresser.

“I do,” Danny said, settling back on the bed next to Catherine.

Catherine moved over against Danny’s side, tucking herself in close under his right arm and laying one arm across his stomach as she murmured, “The swimming in his underwear thing is because he loves to go skinny dipping, but his neighbor asked him not to anymore. The guy was tired of his wife setting the alarm for five so she could be sure to be in her kitchen before Steve went for his dawn swim every day.”

Danny snickered. “I should probably be surprised, but I’m not.”

Catherine giggled softly as Steve turned off the lamp and then put his knee on the bed. “No more talking,” Steve said firmly, sounding like he wanted to laugh. “Time to go to _sleep_.”

“So lay down and be still so I can,” Danny countered, amused.

“Bossy, aren’t you?” Steve said, settling close to Danny’s left side and draping his arm across Danny’s body just below Catherine’s arm.

Danny grinned, looking at Steve in the darkness. “Babe, you have no idea.”

Steve laughed softly and then murmured, “Kinky, but I like it.”

“I kinda figured you would,” Danny agreed, chuckling as he let his eyes fall closed and relaxed.

Catherine kissed Danny’s chest and then murmured, “Night you two.”

“G’night,” Steve replied, laying his cheek on Danny’s shoulder. “Love you both.

“Back at ’cha, babe. Night,” Danny echoed, smiling and feeling as comfortable as he had in a very long time, despite his knee.

 

~*~

 

Danny woke up slowly the next morning, feeling very relaxed despite the throbbing ache in his knee that told him all his pills had worn off. Sometime while he was asleep he had rolled over and ended up sprawled half on top of Steve with his bad leg draped across Steve’s thighs, his face nestled into the curve of Steve’s throat and his morning wood snug against Steve’s hip. One of Steve’s arms was wrapped around his back, keeping him close, and Steve’s other hand was tangled with Danny’s on Steve belly.

Danny had to smile when he felt Steve give his hand a gentle squeeze a few moments after he woke up, letting him know Steve was awake. He just laid there basking in the warmth and enjoying how loved and relaxed he felt for a little while before it dawned on him that Catherine wasn’t curled up against him anymore. The bed felt empty behind him and he didn’t hear anyone breathing but himself and Steve, and he didn’t really stop to think before he murmured, “Where’s Cath?”

“She had to go to the head and didn’t want to wake you climbing back into bed,” Steve replied softly, sounding a little amused. “She went to make some coffee after that, I think. I heard her go downstairs, anyway, and she’s even worse than you are about wanting coffee first thing.”

Danny lifted his head to look at Steve, smiling when he saw how relaxed and happy Steve looked. “How long ago was that?”

Steve moved the arm he had around Danny’s back, lifting that hand to run his fingers through Danny’s hair, giving him a loving smile. “I didn’t check the clock, but I’d guess maybe twenty minutes ago.”

“And you’ve been awake the whole time?” Danny asked quietly, smiling as he leaned into Steve’s touch.

Steve’s smile widened a little, amused. “I’ve been awake for a couple of _hours_ , babe.”

Danny just looked at Steve a moment before he admitted, “When you say things like that, it makes remembering not to rush into things even more difficult for me. Just so you know.”

Steve’s smile curved into something just a bit wicked as he murmured, “You say that like I _want_ to go slow, Danno.”

“If you want me to forget the waiting thing, calling me _Danno_ in bed is not the way to get it,” Danny pointed out, amused. “I told you that before.”

Steve made a face. “I can’t help it that I think of you as Danno.”

Danny’s lips twitched. “And _I_ can’t help it that hearing someone call me Danno makes me think of my baby girl and therefore totally kills the mood, so I’m thinking one of us is gonna have to change.” He pushed away from Steve, wincing as he moved his bad leg off of Steve’s thighs so he could sit up, and then he patted Steve’s knee familiarly. “Just so you know, that won’t be me.”

Steve sat up next to him, looking amused as he gazed pointedly at the tent in Danny’s boxers and then met Danny’s gaze as he teased, “You don’t _look_ like I killed the mood.”

Danny snorted, amused. “I haven’t gotten laid in weeks and you’re still mostly naked in bed with me, so yes, my dick would be happy to get a little attention right now. That doesn’t mean I’m going to do anything, though. I am perfectly capable of thinking above the belt.”

Steve poked out his lower lip, giving Danny his best pout. “But I was hoping for a snack before breakfast.”

“Not today,” Danny said quietly as he lifted one hand to cup Steve’s cheek, his smile fading a bit as he looked into Steve’s eyes. “I want that too, babe, but I was serious about not rushing into this again. I don't want to fuck this up.”

Steve leaned into Danny’s touch, his pout fading into an uncertain, slightly unhappy expression as he murmured, “You think having sex will change anything?”

“I think we both need to know that this isn’t about the sex,” Danny corrected softly, stroking Steve’s cheek with his thumb. “I know you love me, I don’t doubt that anymore, and I love you so much it scares me, but I want to be sure that we’ve still got the relationship we had before I fucked everything up.”

“Okay,” Steve agreed softly, giving Danny a surprisingly genuine-looking smile even though his eyes were still a little unhappy.

Danny shook his head, wishing not for the first time that he could go back in time to kick the asses of a lot of people in Steve’s past, starting with his dad. Steve had taught himself to hide everything he wanted so deep that Danny sometimes wondered if even _Steve_ knew what he really needed, and it hurt to actually see Steve shoving his own wants and needs aside for him. He had a feeling Steve did that a lot recently, and he had just been too stuck in his own pain to notice. “Babe, no. I don’t want you agreeing to things you don’t want because you’re trying to make me happy. I want you to be _honest_ with me, even if you think I won’t want to hear it. Tell me what’s going on in your head right now, please?”

Danny had a strong suspicion that Steve had managed to let himself show Danny so much of what he was feeling the night before mostly because of Catherine’s careful prodding before she sent Steve out on that run to think about it all. She seemed to make it easier for Steve to relax those iron walls he held his emotions behind simply by being with him, and it worried him a little that Steve might go back to hiding behind those walls when Catherine had to leave again.

Steve didn’t really have any family he was close to, not even Mary, who he barely knew despite the fact she was his sister, so Danny figured that Catherine and her mom were the closest things to family Steve had had in his life since the day he left Annapolis. It made Danny sad, but it made him grateful to Catherine, too, and determined to never get in the way of their deep friendship. Even after just a short time seeing them together Danny could tell that Steve desperately needed her support and love, and Danny didn’t want to ever make Catherine feel like she wasn’t welcome. Steve obviously felt completely at ease with Catherine, who just as obviously felt the same way, and Danny wanted that to continue.

Steve was silent for a few moments, just looking at Danny, and then he looked down as he admitted quietly, “I just… I feel like I’ve already been waiting for this forever, and now that you’re here I want to show you how I feel.” He lifted his gaze to Danny’s again, adding, “But I’ll give you time, if that’s what you need.”

“ _That’s_ why we need to go slow this time,” Danny pointed out softly, moving his hand around to the back of Steve’s neck to give him a gentle shake. “I don’t want you just for the admittedly mind-blowing sex, Steven. You’re gorgeous, and you’ve featured prominently in my sexier dreams pretty much since I met you, but you can show me how you feel without sex, I promise. You do it all the time.”

Steve smiled slightly, and Danny was glad to see it reached his eyes as Steve asked softly, “I do?”

“Yeah, babe, you do,” Danny agreed. He leaned in to kiss Steve, loving the low noise Steve made as he swayed closer, and then Danny pulled away a few inches to smile at Steve as he said, “You make me feel like I’m your _world_ sometimes, just by the way you look at me.”

Steve smiled, relaxing finally as the expression in his eyes shifted to something warm and loving. “Only because you are.”

“And that’s the look, right there. Now how am I supposed to resist that?” Danny murmured, smiling wider as he leaned in to kiss Steve again.

Steve moved closer and lifted one hand to touch Danny’s chest and then slide it up slowly to curve over Danny’s shoulder without deepening the kiss or trying to ask for more than Danny was offering, and Danny let out a soft pleased noise as he lingered to enjoy it a little longer, even though he hadn’t intended that when he began kissing Steve. All the reasons Danny thought they should wait at least a few days for sex started to seem much less important in the face of how it felt to kiss and touch Steve, and by the time he started to run out of air he was already considering throwing all caution to the wind and just going with the need that they both felt so strongly.

They finally parted to breathe, drawing back just enough to see each other as Steve murmured, “As long as I’m allowed to kiss you and touch you, I can wait for the rest, but if you want me to go back to pretending I don’t want you at all then I think we’re going to have a problem.”

“I was actually just starting to think that waiting is kind of silly,” Danny admitted softly, giving Steve a crooked little smile.

Steve smiled, obviously pleased. “It is, maybe, but I understand why now. I’ll be here whenever you want me.”

“I want you _now_ ,” Danny said, smiling wryly and thinking again about Catherine, who was downstairs all alone. “But I’m going to behave myself and ask you to toss me my knee brace instead. I think I’d rather spend the day downstairs instead of up here. That way we can all get comfortable and relax, and you won’t need to move that TV.”

Steve hesitated a moment and then nodded. “Okay.” He leaned to kiss Danny lightly again and then moved away, sliding off the bed and then walking over to the dresser to get the brace. He immediately moved back towards Danny, sitting on the foot of the bed facing Danny as he added suddenly, “Cath won’t be upset if we spend some time alone, though.” Danny stared at Steve, surprised, and Steve smiled slightly as he added, “You don’t have to wait until she goes back to her ship, if that’s part of what you’re trying to do. She’d like to watch, she wasn’t kidding about that, but she really _does_ want us to be together. When I called her last night to tell her I was going to see you, she threatened to shoot me with my own gun if I came home before I fixed things.”

“I—No,” Danny said, still feeling kind of surprised that Steve could read him so well. “I mean, yeah, I thought about how she would feel, but I meant what I said, I need to get back my partner first.” He smiled sheepishly, running one hand through his hair as he looked down and admitted, “I didn’t realize how much I counted on you being there for me until I screwed things up and suddenly you were so distant.” He licked his lips, meeting Steve’s gaze as he added, “I’ve missed you, a lot.”

“I missed you too,” Steve agreed softly as he leaned closer to Danny and took his hand. “The only way I could give you space like you said you wanted me to do was to just not let myself think about us at all.”

“I’m sorry,” Danny murmured, giving Steve’s hand a squeeze. “I won’t ever push you away like that again, babe.”

“I won’t let you,” Steve said, holding tightly to Danny’s hand and smiling a little wider. “Next time I’ll corner you and make you talk to me, no matter how much it pisses you off. I’d rather make you mad than go through something like that again. I don't mind you yelling at me.”

“Please do,” Danny agreed, smiling. “As long as it’s not in front of the Governor or something.”

“What about Chin and Kono?” Steve asked.

“If they don’t want to listen to us argue, they can find somewhere else to be,” Danny said, not even needing to think about that.

Steve grinned suddenly, wide and pleased. “No more hiding?”

Danny laughed softly. “Babe, I doubt we’ve been hiding much from them recently, since they _are_ both fairly decent detectives, but no. No more hiding. I’d rather not make out in front of half the HPD, and I need to tell Gracie and Rachel before it becomes public knowledge, but Chin and Kono are family. I haven’t got any secrets from them, especially since I’m sure they probably already know.”

Steve’s grin widened even further, sweet and kind of goofy as he moved up on one knee and leaned to kiss Danny instead of trying to talk any more, a sentiment Danny could totally get behind.

 

~*~

 

Danny shifted a little in his chair as he idly rattled the remains of the last two ice cubes in his glass, debating whether he was thirsty enough to go in the house after more of the hibiscus lemonade Steve had made to go with breakfast. It was good, delicious even, and the perfect thing to drink as he lounged on the _lanai_ watching Steve and Catherine surf in the drowsy warmth of early afternoon, but his knee was actually not bothering him too much and he knew walking would make it start hurting like hell again.

“Want me to get you a refill before I go, Danny?” Mary asked suddenly behind him, making Danny turn his head in surprise to look at her. Mary had headed upstairs earlier to go change so she could run to the store for some ‘real food’, or at least that was what she had said when she went inside, but she was still wearing the same thing she had worn at breakfast. She was smiling and looked relaxed in her skimpy little cut-off jean shorts and a tank top, and it amused him to realize that to Mary ‘getting dressed’ evidently meant putting on makeup and pulling her bottle-blond hair back into a ponytail. She hadn’t even put on any shoes. “I don’t mind,” she pointed out, still smiling. “And Cath mentioned you’re supposed to stay off your feet.”

“Thanks, Mary, I’d appreciate it,” Danny agreed, offering her his glass. “I was just trying to decide if I’m thirsty enough to go get it myself.”

Mary laughed, taking the glass and turning to go back inside as she said cheerfully, “Stevie would have bolted up here to help you as soon as you tried to get up. He may look like he’s just surfing, but he’s really watching you like a hawk.”

Danny looked back out towards the water, amused. “Yeah, he probably is.”

“No probably to it,” Mary said with a laugh over the sound of ice rattling into a glass. She walked back out of the kitchen a moment later with Danny’s glass and the half-empty pitcher of hibiscus lemonade as she added, “I haven’t seen Stevie look at anyone like he looks at you since he was a teenager.” She smirked, offering Danny his glass. “He thought he hid it _so_ well back then, but I knew before he did.”

Danny took the glass, holding it out to let Mary fill it before he asked, “Who was it?”

“One of his surfing buddies,” Mary replied with a grin, putting the pitcher of lemonade on the table near Danny. “He never did anything about it, but I could see it, even if the guy never noticed.”

Danny’s eyebrows rose a bit in surprise. “Nothing happened?”

Mary shook her head, her grin fading as she looked out towards where Steve and Catherine were sitting on their boards past the break, waiting for a nice wave to come in. “No, Stevie had barely figured it out when he answered the door one morning and one of Dad’s cop buddies was there, looking for Dad. We didn’t know where he was or when he’d be back, so Detective Takashi sat us both down on the couch and told us himself that Mom had been killed in an accident.” She looked back down at Danny. “It took Dad thirteen hours to bother coming home, while we waited with the rookie he had just started working with and wondered if Dad was dead too and nobody had told us yet.” She snorted. “We probably would have been better off if he was. At least then we could have stayed in Hawaii with our uncle Loki instead of being shipped off to live on the mainland. I ended up in LA with a cousin of Dad’s that I didn’t even _know_ , and Stevie was sent to a boarding school in _Ohio_ where one of Dad’s old Navy buddies was the military history instructor.”

Danny looked out towards Steve, who he knew spent _hours_ in the ocean every day, and didn’t really even think before he murmured, “God, I bet he hated that. Putting him so far from the ocean oughta be a crime.”

“He did, and hated Dad too for a few years,” Mary agreed. “He doesn’t anymore, though.”

Danny looked back up at Mary. “Sounds like you might.”

“Pretty much, yeah,” Mary said, nodding. “I always have been better at holding a grudge than Stevie is.” She moved back towards the kitchen doorway. “Anything you want me to get while I’m at the store?”

“Coffee?” Danny half asked, taking the hint and letting the subject drop. “And maybe some steaks or something? There’s no meat in the fridge but a little grilled chicken, and it won’t last long with four of us to feed.”

“That’s because Stevie mostly eats veggies with whatever seafood he can catch, unless he’s cooking for someone else,” Mary said with a laugh. “I’ll get some real meat though. With you and Cath here, he’ll cook whatever you two want, and I know she loves a good steak.”

“Thanks, Mary,” Danny said with a smile.

“Anytime, brah,” Mary said cheerfully, disappearing back into the house.

Danny settled a little more comfortably in his chair, sipping at his hibiscus lemonade as he watched Steve and Catherine both paddling towards shore, leaping nimbly to their feet in almost perfect sync as a wave caught up to them and then riding it in towards shore with a graceful ease that Danny envied.

“Can I borrow your Camaro?” Mary asked suddenly, making Danny look towards the kitchen doorway again in surprise. She was grinning widely and holding his keys as she added, “You parked behind Stevie’s truck, so I’m gonna have to move it anyway to get out.”

Danny let out a snort of a laugh. “ _Steve_ parked behind the truck, but you’re not borrowing my car, girl. I’ve heard stories about your driving, and considering how _Steve_ drives, knowing you can scare _him_ is all I need to know.”

Mary pouted. “But I promise not to treat her bad, Danny. She’s too gorgeous to hurt her!”

“And staying safely parked in the yard to see she stays that way,” Danny added, trying not to laugh at how much Mary reminded him of her older brother at the moment. “I’ll want my keys back where they belong before you go.”

Mary stuck her tongue out at him and then turned and disappeared back into the house as she muttered loudly, “Spoilsport.”

Danny snickered and looked back towards the waves again, calling, “Nobody drives my car but me!”

“And Steve!” Mary called back pointedly. “You let him drive it all the time, I know!”

“He doesn’t count!” Danny countered, laughing. “And _he_ only drives my car when he’s _supervised_.”

“Yeah, yeah, whatever,” Mary said just barely loud enough Danny could hear her, and then the front door closed loudly.

Danny chuckled and sipped at his lemonade again as he watched Steve and Catherine start paddling away from shore again, his gaze roaming over both wet, gorgeous bodies before it settled on Steve’s back to enjoy the play of muscles as he paddled strongly towards the break. He still couldn’t quite believe that they had really fixed things between them, even though it _felt_ like they had, but he _could_ believe that the worst was behind them, which made it easy for him to relax there on Steve’s beach and trust that things would be okay.

Steve and Catherine between them had managed to give Danny back the hope that he had almost lost, and from where he was sitting at the moment, his future was looking pretty bright.

 

 

 


	2. All That Really Matters

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title from the song of the same name by Ritchie Sambora.

 

Steve was sprawled on the couch, watching _Fast and Furious_ and managing to enjoy it even though he had a deep abiding hatred of the location so many of the best car scenes were set in. Steve had been deployed longer than he wanted to think about in similar-looking deserts, even spent enough time in that _particular_ desert at one point that he knew exactly where a few scenes were filmed, and if he never went back to any similar place it would still be too soon. He hated the dry air and the damned bugs, and the snakes, and really _everything_ about desert terrain.

The cars and the human scenery in _Fast and Furious_ were barely enough to get Steve to tolerate the bad memories brought up by the desert setting, so he didn't bother to watch a large portion of the movie. Vin Diesel had never really been his type, but Diesel’s smartass co-star reminded Steve of Danny, which was really all that Paul Walker needed to do to make Steve willing to watch him, at least for a little while. Walker and Danny were both blond and had a tendency to talk constantly without really saying all that much, and no matter how Danny might complain about Steve’s driving, Steve knew for a fact that Danny liked driving fast too as long as the highway was clear ahead of them and Grace wasn’t in the Camaro.

Catherine and Mary had settled on the movie soon after Catherine stole the remote from Steve, and they were both watching it with obvious enjoyment even though they had seen it before. Steve and Catherine had seen it when it was in the theater not long after the movie was released, and the way Mary had happily gushed over the movie when Catherine found it in the on-screen guide had made it plain she had seen it at least once as well. Steve had teased them about wanting to watch fast cars and overpaid mediocre actors, but he didn’t really mind letting the girls enjoy the – as Mary had declared the movie to be – ‘festival of eye-candy’.

Steve would have happily sat through even _Steel Magnolias_ that day, of course, but he never would have admitted it out loud, not with Mary _and_ Catherine in the room. He would have never heard the end of it.

The scene where Diesel said his line about loving all the beautiful bodies ended and Steve looked down, not really aware of how his slight smirk softened into a loving smile as he went back to ignoring the movie again.

Danny had decided to use Steve’s thigh as a pillow while he put his feet up after lunch, though it took Steve, Catherine, _and_ Mary to convince him he should lie down, but watching the movie hadn’t lasted long at all before Danny decided to nap instead. He had rolled over to put his back to the television, nuzzling against the soft cotton of Steve’s t-shirt and tucking one hand between Steve’s ass and the back of the couch before he settled down to sleep, and it wasn’t long before Steve decided it would take a grenade in the immediate vicinity to wake him up. Catherine and Mary had made quite a bit of noise while they watched the movie, forgetting that Danny was asleep in their glee over what ’Dom’ and ‘Bri’ were doing, but Danny had never moved a muscle.

Steve moved his right hand to run his fingers very carefully through Danny’s hair again, enjoying the feel of it sliding slowly through his fingers. He knew Danny would never hold still for him to do such a thing while Danny was awake, but Steve had asked if he could play with his hair after Danny laid down, too tempted by the thought of finally messing up Danny’s always-perfect hair to resist it, and Danny had told Steve to knock himself out. Steve had been quick to take advantage of the offer, making Danny snicker and tease him quietly about being a giant goof while Mary and Catherine cooed to each other over Steve actually asking for permission.

The teasing was a small price to pay for how much Steve enjoyed finally indulging an impulse he had fought almost every day since he met Danny. Danny’s hair was longer than it looked when Danny had it all gelled and neatly combed back away from his face, especially on top, and even after an hour of playing with it Steve was still a little amazed at how soft and silky it was. He had hardly ever just sat on his couch and relaxed for so long without wishing he could go do something else, but he didn’t think it would ever get old as long as Danny was asleep with his head on Steve’s thigh, letting Steve play with his hair and watch him sleep.

The _Psycho_ theme began to play suddenly, making Steve turn quickly towards the end table by the couch as he reached with his left hand to grab Danny’s phone. He had plugged it into his extra charger after lunch when Danny tried to check his messages and realized the battery was dead, but he wasn’t sure it was fully charged yet so he was careful not to unplug it as he picked it up, thumbing the ‘accept’ button even as he put it to his ear. “Can I help you, Rachel?”

Catherine looked towards Steve in surprise, asking quietly, “Want me to mute this?”

Steve shook his head, a little surprised Rachel hadn’t said anything yet as he pulled the phone away from his jaw and gave Catherine a quick smile. “No, I can hear fine. You enjoy your movie.” He looked back down at Danny, resting his right hand on Danny’s muscular shoulder as he moved the phone back to his cheek with the other hand and asked, “Rachel, can you hear me?”

“Yes, yes I hear you quite well,” Rachel replied finally, sounding shocked. “ _Where_ is Daniel?”

“He’s taking a nap on my couch,” Steve replied, a little amused even though he was starting to get a little concerned, too. Rachel seldom spoke to Danny unless she was making his life hell or there was a problem with Grace, which led him to ask, “Is Gracie okay?”

“Your couch,” Rachel repeated, ignoring his question. “And you would be…?”

“His partner, Steve McGarrett,” Steve said, trying not to laugh. “We’ve spoken before, Rachel. Technically I’m Danny’s boss, but that’s just for the paperwork. The realboss is Governor Jameson, who says anyone who knows me or Danny should know better than to think we’ll do as we’re told.” He paused and then added truthfully, “Well, for anyone except her. Pat made it plain from the start that having her watching our backs comes with a price. If we argue with her too much, she’ll take away our ‘by any means necessary’ immunity card and ruin all my fun.”

Catherine let out a surprised little laugh as Mary muttered, “Such a _dork_ ,” but Steve didn’t look at either of them. He knew if he did that he would probably laugh too, and the things Danny had told him about Rachel made him sure she _definitely_ wouldn’t appreciate that.

“Mmm, yes, I remember you now,” Rachel agreed, sounding displeased enough that Steve had to grin. “Exactly why is Daniel asleep on your couch instead of his own, though, if I may ask?”

Rachel had been perfectly polite when Steve spoke to her about Danny’s visitation rights a few weeks ago, but it didn’t surprise him at all to find out Rachel didn’t like him anymore. Pat had been kind enough to record her later conversation with Rachel and Stan for his benefit, so he knew that Pat had mentioned him several times as being one of many glowing references she could produce to prove that Danny was an excellent father who always put his daughter’s safety and happiness ahead of his own. Rachel and Stan couldn’t claim the same thing, no matter how much money Stan had spent buying Grace things to try and win her love, and Pat had made sure that they knew she could prove that.

Getting Danny’s visitation back to normal had been very easy after that, and Rachel had been trying much harder to let Grace see Danny, even though Danny didn’t know why Rachel was suddenly being so much nicer to him.

Steve was very sure that Danny had no idea Pat had told Rachel and Stan in no uncertain terms that she would make sure Danny got _full_ custody if they kept Danny from seeing his beloved daughter, but Rachel knew and Steve was sure she would never forget it. Steve had friends in high places, yes, but Pat knew _everyone_ in the Hawaiian government and had made more than enough international connections to make Stan’s business life very difficult if he crossed her. Danny was no longer just a low-paid cop who didn’t really know anyone that could help him fight all of Stan’s money and lawyers, and he would never again have to let his parents mortgage their home so he could afford a halfway decent lawyer.

Steve moved his right hand back to Danny’s hair, running his fingers through the silky golden strands as he pushed away his thoughts and said, “His knee has been bothering him a lot and I finally convinced him to let me help him until it starts getting a little easier for him to get around. He’s been living off coffee and take-out for almost a month because his knee is too messed-up to let him even cook a decent meal. My couch is more comfortable than his is and I have cable, and I can cook for one more easily enough.” He grinned, remembering Danny’s reaction to some of his own meals. “I’ll even cook food he likes instead of making him eat like I usually do, even though eating more vegetables and fruit would be good for him.”

Rachel was quiet for several moments and then said abruptly, “I wasn’t aware he had re-injured himself so badly.”

Steve was surprised by that for only a moment before he realized he shouldn’t be. He didn’t doubt that Danny had been working very hard to hide how much pain he was in from Grace. Danny hated to upset her, and Steve knew she would have been terribly worried if she knew Danny was in agony pretty much anytime he was on his feet. Grace was a very active little girl, and Steve was sure Danny had been ignoring his own pain to make Grace’s weekends with him as special as he could. Since Danny never even _spoke_ to Rachel if he could avoid it, it only made sense that he hadn’t told her either.

“Grace had told me it was bothering him on Friday, of course,” Rachel added, “but I also know they went to the zoo and walked around for _hours_ seeing all the animals again. She spent most of the day yesterday telling me all about it.” She let out a quiet huff that sounded a little annoyed. “Repeatedly.”

“Danny would rather _die_ than upset Gracie by telling her he’s in pain because she wanted him to do something, and we both know it,” Steve pointed out just a bit sharply, but then he stopped himself.

Finding out Danny had spent all of Friday on his feet with Grace made Steve, who had been under the impression Danny spent most of the day in his apartment, want to give Danny a piece of his mind. Danny knew him well enough to know his reaction to Danny overdoing it so stupidly, even if it had been for Grace, so it wasn’t too surprising that Danny didn’t tell him. He took a deep breath, promising himself he would get to yell at Danny later, and then he exhaled, looking down at Danny. The yelling would likely happen _much_ later and for some other reason altogether, but at least Steve would feel justified next time Danny exasperated him enough to make him yell.

Steve was proud of how calm and normal his tone was as he let himself go on talking to Rachel. “He tore his ACL again several weeks ago when he tried to turn while going down some stairs too fast, and he was told then to stay off it as much as possible for the next few _months_. It’s been slowly improving as long as he doesn’t do too much, but he had his first rehab appointment yesterday afternoon after he dropped Gracie off. The idiot doing his physical therapy pushed him too hard, _especially_ if he walked around the zoo all day the day before, and now it’s hurting him worse than it was to begin with.”

“Oh dear,” Rachel murmured, and Steve was surprised to realize she actually sounded concerned. Her annoyance seemed to have dissipated as quickly as it appeared, which didn’t fit very well with what Danny had said about her, but Steve decided not to ask about it. He had learned years ago that a woman whose emotional state was obviously erratic almost never reacted well if some unfortunate fool pointed it out. “How bad is it, or has he said? I know he’s usually very close-mouthed about that sort of thing. He’s been through this several times before, but he has never been good at admitting just how badly he’s hurting.”

“It’s not good,” Steve said after a moment’s consideration, deciding that Rachel didn’t need to know Danny was afraid he would need surgery again. “Last night he finally agreed to stay with me for a while so I can help him get around, and I’m taking him in to see his doctor first thing in the morning. I’ll know more after that. Doctor Oh is the best there is, and he’ll do everything that can be done.”

Rachel sighed and was quiet for a moment before she said, “Well, knowing Daniel as I do, I rather doubt he’s _pleased_ about you helping him, but I am sure he needs it. It will be no picnic, I assure you. He’s rather … _trying_ , when his knee is bothering him, and he can be infuriatingly stubborn even at the best of times.”

“I’m sure we’ll be fine. I can take anything he can dish out, and he’s learning to adjust to the fact I never give up,” Steve said, amused as he looked down and stroked Danny’s hair again. “Now what did you need, Rachel? I know you don’t call him just to say hello.”

“No, I suppose I don’t,” Rachel agreed with a soft sigh. “I needed to speak with Danny about letting Grace stay with him until next Sunday. I just received word that my grandmother passed away and I need to fly home for the funeral.”

“I’m very sorry for your loss, Rachel,” Steve said, surprised Rachel was offering to give Danny an entire _week_ with Grace. “Step-Stan is going with you, I guess?”

“Stanley left a few hours ago for Taiwan on business and can’t possibly get away until Tuesday,” Rachel replied. “He’s been waiting for six months for the meetings he has scheduled there tomorrow and the next day, but afterwards he will fly directly to London to join me. I just spoke with Grace to tell her what has happened and she begged to stay with Daniel. She doesn’t like funerals and insists that she can’t afford to miss more than a day or two of school or she’ll fall hopelessly behind. I’ll be needed in England at least until Friday so I agreed to ask if she could stay with her father, but if Daniel is staying with you, perhaps that isn’t the best idea.”

“No, there’s no reason for Gracie to miss so much school,” Steve said quickly, smiling even though he was sure it probably made him a bad person to be _pleased_ Grace was staying with them while Rachel went to a funeral. “There’s always plenty of room in my house for Danny _and_ Grace to stay. I have a friend visiting on leave tonight, but she’s going back to her ship in the morning and then Grace will even have her own room.”

“A _woman_ is staying with you?” Rachel repeated, and Steve could _hear_ her frowning. “I would rather that Grace was not exposed to—“

“Catherine is my _friend_ , Rachel,” Steve interrupted firmly, and the he added a bit pointedly, “That’s why she’s staying _in the spare bedroom_. Which will be available for Grace to use after Cath ships out at five in the morning.”

“I can move my things now,” Catherine murmured then, making Steve look at her quickly. She smiled at him, adding quietly, “I don’t mind sleeping on the couch.”

Steve smiled gratefully at Catherine as he said to Rachel, “And she just volunteered to take the couch and give Grace the spare room now, so there’s nothing to worry about.” He lowered the phone from his mouth slightly, adding, “Thanks, Cath.”

“Oh,” Rachel said quietly, and then fell silent.

“Anything for Grace,” Catherine said quickly, smiling at Steve before she looked back at the movie, and Steve smiled a little wider as he looked back down at Danny. He knew Catherine would keep listening to his side of the conversation, but he appreciated her at least _pretending_ to let him talk to Rachel in privacy. Mary wasn’t bothering to do the same, and he could feel her watching him interestedly, so he was sure there would be lots of questions eventually.

Steve waited patiently for Rachel to speak again for a few moments before he asked carefully, “So it’s settled then? Danny and I can be there in twenty minutes to get Grace if you need to leave.”

Rachel was silent for a moment longer before she asked abruptly, “Could I speak to Daniel, please?”

“I’ll need a minute to wake him,” Steve agreed, “but I’m sure he won’t mind.”

“Thank you,” Rachel said primly. “Take your time. I know he can be difficult to wake, especially when he’s taking pain medications.”

“You’re welcome.” Steve moved Danny’s cell away from his face, angling the vocal pickup away but keeping the earpiece close enough to his ear that he could hear if Rachel said anything as he patted Danny’s shoulder and said, “Wake up, D.”

Steve had already learned that Danny could sleep like the dead, so he didn’t bother starting with a gentle nudge like he would have if he were waking Catherine. The way Danny had slept through Catherine and Mary watching the movie – not to mention Steve’s conversation with Rachel – he was sure it would take a serious effort to wake him up, so he wasn’t really surprised when Danny didn’t respond to the first attempt.

Steve let out a soft amused huff as he gave Danny a firm shake and said loudly, “Danno, _wake up_.”

Danny made a low noise and burrowed closer to Steve’s stomach, but not before Steve saw his grouchy expression. “Sh’up an’ lemme _sleep_ , babe.”

Catherine giggled and paused the movie, and the room fell suddenly silent as Steve smirked and said, “Can’t do that, sorry. You’ve got to wake up.”

“Gimme one good reason,” Danny muttered gruffly, still sounding mostly asleep as his hand flexed against Steve’s ass, giving it a gentle squeeze. “M’ comfy. You make a good pillow.”

Steve’s lips twitched as he fought down a laugh. “Rachel’s on the phone.”

Danny pulled away from Steve abruptly, his hair hanging in his face as he blurted loudly, “What?! Is Grace okay?”

“Gracie’s fine, Danno, stop panicking,” Steve said as he ran his hand over Danny’s chest soothingly, trying to calm him down and thinking he really should have eased into that a little better. Rachel seldom called Danny to tell him anything he would _enjoy_ hearing about, so it only made sense he’d get worried about her calling him out of the blue. “Rachel just needs to ask you for a favor, that’s all.”

“A favor,” Danny repeated, frowning up at Steve as he pulled his right hand out from where it had been tucked between Steve’s ass and the couch cushions. He was starting to look much more awake as he shifted carefully to roll onto his back, his head still resting on Steve’s thigh as he ran one hand through his hair to push it back from his face. “Seriously?”

Steve nodded, giving Danny a reassuring smile. “I’ll let her explain it to you.” He moved the phone back closer to his mouth, adding, “Here he is, Rachel.”

“I…  Thank you, Steve,” Rachel said, sounding a bit odd.

“Anytime,” Steve agreed easily, then offered Danny the phone. “Just calm down. She’s having a rough day and needs your help.”

Danny looked confused but accepted the phone, looking away from Steve to stare up at the ceiling as he put it to his ear. “Rach? What’s wrong?”

Steve couldn’t hear what Rachel said in reply, but he was a bit surprised the pained expression on Danny’s face as he Danny murmured, “Damn. You know I always liked her.”

Danny fell silent again, listening for a few moments before he said suddenly, “Of course I will! I’m _always_ glad to have Grace with me, you _know_ that.” He listened to Rachel say something else and then looked up at Steve, his eyes widening a bit as he said, “Well, yeah. I am staying with Steve.” He was quiet again, looking into Steve’s eyes for several long moments before he moved his free hand to tangle his fingers with Steve’s. “No, Steve and Catherine went through training together right after high school and she’s been his best friend ever since. Steve and Cath don’t get to see each other much because she’s still active duty, but when she has a weekend pass she usually stays here. Her mom lives in Maryland, and with Cath stationed in the Pacific it makes no sense to try to fly home unless she has at least a week off. It would eat up all her leave time just to fly there and back.”

Steve smiled at Danny as he gave Danny’s hand a squeeze, amused that Rachel was asking Danny to back up what Steve had told her.

Danny listened to Rachel for a moment and then rolled his eyes, looking at the ceiling again. “ _No_ , Rachel, Cath and I are friends too but I’m not having sex with her either. _No one_ in this house will be having sex while Grace is staying here. Well, unless Steve’s _actual_ little sister has plans I don’t know about.” Danny twisted his head to look at Mary, moving the phone away from his mouth. “You plannin’ to get laid this week, Mare?”

Mary laughed, grabbing her empty beer bottle. “Not here! The last thing I want to do is let Steve meet _anyone_ I’m fucking.” She bounced up out of her chair and started to walk into the kitchen as she added, “I want another beer. Anyone else want one while I’m up?”

“There’s only a few left,” Catherine said, amused. “I thought we’d save them for the guys to drink after dinner while we have margaritas.”

“Oooh, yeah,” Mary agreed with a wicked grin, disappearing into the kitchen.

Danny let out a little snort of a laugh and looked at Catherine. “She can have mine, Cath. I can live without a beer.”

“You’ll want one later,” Catherine pointed out, smiling at him as she tossed a piece of popcorn into the air and then caught it deftly in her mouth. “We’re out of wine, and you can’t have a margarita. Tequila and pain meds don’t mix well at all.”

“I could drink _tea_ ,” Danny pointed out, amused. “Or even Dr Pepper.”

“Yes, but you like beer and it’ll help you relax before bed,” Catherine countered quickly. “And Stevie hasn’t got anymore mangoes for the tea anyway.”

“I meant the hibiscus tea,” Danny said. “Not some fruity thing.”

“So did I,” Catherine replied with a laugh. “There’s mango juice in the hibiscus tea that Steve makes.”

“Can’t be!” Danny protested, “It was good!”

“Don’t argue with her, Danno,” Steve said then, amused. Danny looked back at Steve, shifting slightly and then relaxing against him as Steve added, “She never loses, not even when she’s wrong.” She _wasn’t_ wrong at the moment, of course, but Steve didn’t really want Danny to know that. Danny hardly ever agreed to eat fruit, but he had happily put away half a pitcher of the ‘hibiscus tea’ and Steve wanted him to keep drinking it. The ‘tea’ was really about half mango juice, along with a little lemon juice and a strong tea made from local herbs and hibiscus flowers that had been steeped in hot water for ten minutes, but Danny didn’t know that.

Danny snickered softly. “Sounds familiar.” Rachel said something suddenly, making Danny’s eyes widen just a bit as he moved his gaze away from Steve again. “No, Rachel, it doesn’t make sense for you to bring her out here when you need to be heading the other way to get to the airport. I’ll come and get her.”

“ _We’ll_ come get her,”Steve corrected, making Danny meet his gaze again. “You’re not driving with that knee like it is.”

Danny smiled up at Steve and repeated, “ _We’ll_ come get her. I probably _shouldn’t_ be driving on the pills the doc gave me, but Steve’s a control freak anyway. He hardly ever lets me drive once he gets his hands on my keys.” He paused, listening to Rachel for a few moments, and then he said, “Well, when is your flight?” He paused to listen again and then moved the phone away from his cheek as he asked, “How long will it take us to get over there? I haven’t really tried to get there in a hurry from here.”

“You could drive it in thirty minutes, easy,” Steve said, amused.

“Steve says I could get there in thirty minutes, so he’ll probably make it in twenty,” Danny told Rachel. “He drives even faster than you do.” He paused and then laughed. “Oh no, I didn’t let you drive anymore after we had Grace because I could never stop _you_ from driving like a maniac, but Steve actually behaves himself when Grace is with us. He knows I’d kill him if he even _thought_ about doing any of the crazy stuff he pulls when it’s just me and him in the car.”

Steve snickered and teased, “No you wouldn’t, Danno. You like me too much to kill me.”

Danny let go of Steve’s hand to swat him lightly on the upper arm. “Shut up, babe. I’m on the phone.” He listened to Rachel a moment and then his eyes widened again and he stared up at Steve, suddenly looking very serious. “I— Yeah, I did.”

Steve frowned slightly in concern and Danny grabbed his hand again, giving it a squeeze as he gave Steve a brief reassuring smile and then looked away.

“I was going to tell you soon,” Danny said, still serious. “I planned to talk to you before I told Grace, and I figured I’d need to tell her sometime between now and Friday.” He paused slightly and then corrected, “Well, now she’ll need to know today, since we’re picking her up in a little bit, but I wasn’t _expecting_ to see her until I picked her up Friday after school.” He fell silent for a moment, listening to Rachel again, and then he sighed and said patiently, “Rachel, I told you, _no one_ will be having sex while Grace is here.”

Steve bit his lip, gnawing on it as he watched Danny with concern, wondering what Rachel’s reaction really was to finding out about them. He had hardly even noticed Danny calling him babe again until his sudden change of expression made Steve think about what Danny had said, but he realized suddenly that he had been calling him ‘Danno’, too.

“No, I _will_ be sleeping with Steve,” Danny said firmly, “but you have no room to complain about that, Rachel, so don’t _even_ start. You were sleeping with Stan before the divorce was even final, and having sex with him while Grace was just down the hall.” He paused and then rolled his eyes. “Rach, just stop. You _were_ , and I know that because _she told me_. She heard you fooling around with him a few times, and then when you woke her for school one morning she saw you had bruises on your neck and your thigh. She was afraid to ask you what had happened in front of him and she ended up calling me after she got to school because she was so worried about you. I had pull over on my way to work to explain hickeys and making out to my _seven year old daughter_ and reassure her that Stanley wasn’t really _hurting_ you.”

Steve might have found that a little bit amusing if it had happened to anyone else, but he knew Danny well enough that it just gave him one more reason to dislike Rachel. It had been a shock to Danny when he found out Rachel was seeing someone else and wanted a divorce, and he knew Danny had loved Rachel more than he likely should have right up until Rachel started the custody battle to deny him visitation, so having to explain _Rachel’s_ hickeys to Grace had to be painful for Danny.

Danny was quiet for a minute or so, listening to Rachel, and then said, “Yeah, well, it wasn’t how I ever thought I’d find out you were lying about not sleeping with him, either, but I did and I dealt with it, just like you’re gonna have to deal with the fact I love Steve. He’ll be just as much a part of Grace’s life as Step-Stan is.” He fell silent, but it lasted only a few moments before he said slowly, “Well, I’m glad you’re being so… accepting. I was kind of dreading telling you, really.” He rolled his eyes. “No, I met your friend Martin and his husband Raj at the wedding, remember? Martin couldn’t pass as straight if he took acting lessons, and you told me he’d been your best friend for years, so I was sure you’d be okay with me being bi.” He listened to Rachel a moment and then sighed. “Well, if you must know, I thought you might try to use me falling for another cop against me. He’s really a SEAL so it’s not the same thing at all, but you’ve never been particularly rational about my job.” He paused for a little longer, listening to Rachel as he looked more and more surprised, and then he finally said quietly, “I… Thanks, Rach. He _does_ make me happy. We’ve still got a few things to work out, but we’ve talked about all the important stuff and we both know where we stand.” He looked at Steve again, meeting his gaze with a soft smile. “This is permanent.”

Steve smiled at Danny and murmured, “Til the day I die.”

Danny snorted, amused. “And you’re not allowed to do that, not unless you finally push me too far and _I_ shoot you.”

Steve laughed. “You wouldn’t.”

“Maybe, and maybe not,” Danny countered with a low laugh, “but I am _still_ the only one allowed to kill you.”

“Whatever you say, Danno,” Steve agreed, trying not to laugh again and thinking it really shouldn’t make him feel so _loved_ to have someone threaten his life.

Danny grinned, pleased, and then he laughed at something Rachel said and blushed as he looked away. “Just go pack, Rach. We’ll be over there soon, okay?” He paused a few moments and then said patiently, “We’ve got plenty of time, don’t worry. Go get your clothes packed for London, we’ll take care of Grace’s things once we get there.” He paused and then added, “I _promise_. We’ll handle it.”  He listened to Rachel for a few moments again and then smiled. “We’re on the way right now. Bye.” He ended the call and then moved the hand holding his phone to lay it on his stomach, looking up at Steve again and still blushing slightly as he smiled and said, “We need to get moving, babe. She wants to be at the airport in an hour to check in and get her ticket on the five o’clock flight to L.A. so she doesn’t lose her spot to someone flying standby. She’s changing planes there to fly non-stop to London.”

Steve smiled at Danny. “I’ll get us there. Let me up so I can get your shoes, then we can go.”

Danny smiled a little wider. “I know you will.” He let go of Steve’s hand and then sat up, flinching and not quite able to stifle a pained noise as he swung his feet off of the couch. “I’m not getting out anywhere but at Rachel’s, so I’m not going to change.”

Steve let out a soft little snort, amused by the idea Danny might need to change clothes even though he hated seeing Danny in pain. “Of course you’re not going to _change_ , you don’t have to look professional right now. It’s _Sunday_.”

Danny rolled his eyes, running his hand through his hair again in an obvious attempt to smooth it back. “No, Steven, but I _do_ need to look _presentable_ when I go out in public, especially if I’m seeing Grace.”

“Will fuckable do?” Mary asked brightly, making Danny and Steve both look at her in surprise. She had returned to her chair at some point without Steve really noticing it, and was curled up with bottle of Dr Pepper cradled in both hands and her bare feet tucked into the chair with her, grinning widely at them. “You’re making that t-shirt and sweats look pretty hot. The just rolled out of bed look suits you.”

Danny lifted one hand to shake a finger at Mary, blushing as he said firmly, “You are _not_ allowed to have dirty thoughts about me, so stop that right now.”

“You don’t get to tell me what to _think_ about,” Mary pointed out with a smirk. “It’s a free country. Stevie’s been fighting for years to keep it that way.”

“Let me rephrase that. You are not allowed to _tell me_ you have dirty thoughts about me, how’s that?” Danny countered quickly. “You are one of my _little_ _sisters_ as far as I’m concerned, and you saying I’m hot is just plain _wrong_.”

Mary blinked, surprised. “Sister? Seriously?”

Danny rolled his eyes, looking at Steve, who was so surprised he was just sitting there listening to them. “Shoes, babe. We have to _go_.”

“Right,” Steve said quickly, moving off of the couch. He dropped easily to one knee at Danny’s feet and reached for Danny’s loafers, which Catherine had tucked under the coffee table when she took them off the night before. Danny never wore them to work, but Steve had seen them often and he was always amused by how very different they were from Danny’s work shoes. When he was on duty Danny wore nicely polished heavy-duty dress shoes without fail, but after work Danny’s battered old loafers always made an appearance if he had been home to change shoes.

Danny waited until Steve had grabbed his shoes and then went on talking to Mary. “And yes, seriously. I’m sure you were listening to me talk to Rachel. What part of _permanent_ didn’t you understand?”

“So, like, what… You’re getting _married_?” Mary asked, still looking surprised.

“If I thought we could do it, I’d ask him,” Danny said, making Steve look up at him in shock. He had wanted to spend the rest of his life with Danny for quite a while now, and he had thought about marriage more than once, but he hadn’t thought Danny would ever want that. Danny had been very vocal about his views on marriage since they met, and more than once he had heard Danny say that he would never make that particular mistake again. Danny didn’t look at Steve, but from the way Danny blushed right after Steve looked at him, he was sure Danny was aware of his surprise as Danny added, “Gay marriage isn’t legal here, Mary.”

“It will be,” Steve said quietly, making Danny look down at him. “Pat’s working on getting civil marriage passed. She thinks she’ll have the votes she needs by the start of the summer session.”

Danny stared at Steve as he asked softly, “And why is she doing that, babe?”

Steve looked down, shrugging one shoulder as he started to put Danny’s shoes on for him. “I might have said a few things that made her realize it’s kind of important to me.”

“You didn’t tell _me_ that you’re in love with me until last night, but you told the _governor_?” Danny blurted. “Our _boss_?!”

“Not exactly. She kind of just knew,” Steve admitted. “After I asked her to help with Rachel when she was being such a bitch about your visitation. Rachel wouldn’t listen to me and stopped answering my calls, but I knew Stan couldn’t do business here if he made an enemy out of the _governor_ , so I asked Pat for help. She wanted to know the whole story, and then the next morning she went to have a talk with them.” He paused, remembering the recording Pat had emailed to him the next day, and then he risked looking up at Danny. “I’ll let you listen to what she said sometime, if you want. She gave me a recording when she told me it was all taken care of.” He smiled, thinking about the recording as he added, “She was really great.”

Danny just stared at Steve for a few moments and then shook himself slightly and waved his hands. “No, no, I think we’ll all be happier if I don’t know exactly how _our boss_ threatened my _ex-wife_ on your behalf. Whatever she said, it must have been impressive. Rachel’s been almost _nice_ to me for weeks.”

“Rachel doesn’t know I was the one who asked Pat to give them a come-to-Jesus talk,” Steve said quickly. “I mean, she knows I spoke with Pat about it because Pat mentioned me as being a reliable witness to how much Grace loves being with you, but she doesn’t know that I was the one who kind of begged Pat to help.”

“I’m sure of that,” Danny said with a snort. “If she did, _I_ would have caught hell for it by now, as if I can control you just because you’re my partner. From what she’s said around Grace, she thinks Pat stepped in because it had affected my ability to do my job without shooting anyone.”

Mary giggled at that as Catherine said cheerfully, “I really _have_ to meet her.”

Steve looked at Catherine. “Rachel, or Pat?”

“Both, but Pat was who I meant,” Catherine said quickly, smirking. “She sounds awesome.”

“That can be arranged,” Steve said easily, grinning as he went back to putting Danny’s shoes on for him. “Maybe we can have a family _luau_ next time you have a weekend leave. Three months ought to give Pat plenty of time to make room in her schedule and give Kono time to find someone who needs us to hunt a pig or two. She’s been wanting to take a hog for a while anyway just to prove she can.”

“Perfect!” Catherine agreed, beaming. She jumped up out of her chair, adding, “While you’re gone I’ll go ahead and move your things into the master bedroom and get your old room ready for Grace. I’ll be fine on the couch tonight.”

“Cath, it means the world to me that you’re willing to give up your bed for my baby girl, really, but you don’t have to do that,” Danny said, turning his head to watch her as Catherine started towards the kitchen with her empty popcorn bowl. “Grace won’t mind sleeping down here.”

“And won’t you be sleeping with Steve and Danny again anyway?” Mary asked curiously, distracting Catherine before she could answer Danny.

“Not with Grace here,” Catherine said, turning back to look at Mary. “I don’t want to confuse her, and Danny doesn’t need her telling Rachel that I slept with them.” She paused and then added, “Grace doesn’t need to know who’s been sleeping where up until now either, just that her daddy’s in love with Steve and is sleeping with him from now on.”

“Of course,” Mary agreed without hesitation, smiling but looking serious. “I won’t tell her _anything_ that could make trouble for them, Cath.”

“Thanks, Mare.” Catherine smiled warmly at Mary and then turned away again and walked towards the kitchen as she added, “And don’t worry about me, Danny. The couch is more comfortable than my bunk on the ship, so I’ll be fine. Grace needs to know she has a place here just for her.”

“We can even redecorate her room however she wants,” Steve agreed, moving back up on to the couch next to Danny. “She’ll need a smaller bed, for sure. Her room’s really too little for that queen-sized one I put in there, and she won’t have anywhere to play.”

Danny looked at Steve, frowning slightly. “Grace doesn’t need any of that. She’s gotten used to sleeping with me on the pull-out when she stays over, and she doesn’t mind how small my place is.”

Steve smiled and reached for Danny’s hand to give it a squeeze. “This will be her home too, Danno, of _course_ she needs her own room.”

“Babe…” Danny started, trailing off and falling silent for a moment before he said, “I don’t remember agreeing to move in with you.”

“You just told Mary you want to spend the rest of your life with me,” Steve pointed out, amused. “Are you saying you’d be fine _getting married_ , but you still want to keep your crappy little apartment on the other side of the island?”

Mary snickered at that and they could both hear Catherine laughing in the kitchen as Danny flushed and said quickly, “No! But… Isn’t this kind of _sudden_? I mean, what if Mary doesn’t want me and Gracie moving into her house?”

“It’s so not my house,” Mary said quickly, making Danny look at her in surprise. “Dad left everything to Steve, but I didn’t want the place anyway. There’s no way in hell I can afford the property taxes for a three-bedroom house with two acres of land and private beach frontage on the north shore of Hawai’i, but even if I could I don’t _want_ to. Staying here between jobs is fine, and I know Steve will always make room for me when I want to visit because he’s my big brother and he’ll do anything for me, but this isn’t my home and hasn’t been since I was fifteen. It’s _his_ home, and yours too if you’re not too stupid to move in.”

Danny stared at Mary for moment longer and then looked at Steve, just gazing silently into his eyes.

“I love you,” Steve said simply, smiling at Danny even though it worried him that Danny was so quiet. “What’s mine is yours. I want you here with me, and you told me yourself that Grace loves the beach.” He hesitated slightly and then added, “I’ll do anything you need me to do to make you both feel safe here. I can get a gun safe for the big closet in the master bedroom and one for the panic room if you want me to lock up all the weapons I have hidden around the house in case we need them.”

Danny swallowed hard and then suddenly leaned closer to kiss Steve firmly before he pulled away to smile at him, his blue eyes warm and full of love. “Okay.”

Steve blinked, not sure he had heard that right. “Okay?”

“Yeah, okay,” Danny agreed, his smile turning into a happy grin. “I’ll move in, you big goof.” His grin widened, making his blue eyes sparkle. “ _We’ll_ move in.” He let out a little snort of a laugh. “I’ll be glad to say goodbye to that damned pull-out.”

Steve laughed and reached for Danny, cupping the back of his neck with one hand as he kissed Danny again instead of trying to speak. He wasn’t as good with words as he wanted to be, not when it came to his feelings, but he was pretty sure he could _show_ Danny how hearing that made him feel.

 

~*~

 

Rachel – or more likely one of her ‘household staff’ of two long-suffering maids, a cook, and a driver-slash-gardener – had left the front gates open for them so Steve could park the Camaro close to the house instead of them having to walk all the way up the driveway, but even the twenty feet from where Steve parked to the front door seemed like a mile to Danny at the moment. He wasn’t sure he could have walked much farther, not the way his knee was killing him. The physical therapist had done a real number on him the day before, and he was dreading what the doc was going to say when he went in for new pictures of his ACL. He was pretty sure he’d be leaving the doctor’s office with crutches, if not an actual wheelchair.

Danny glanced over at Steve, needing a distraction from thinking about his knee, and then he smiled at how anxious Steve looked. Steve was very good at hiding everything behind a bland professional expression, Danny knew, but he was starting to realize that Steve only hid behind those hard-won walls when he felt like he had to be the one in charge of a situation. That particular day Steve hadn’t bothered to try and hide his feelings at all, at least not yet, and Danny had been enjoying how very transparent Steve could be when he felt safe enough to simply be himself. He had gotten glimpses of Steve when he truly relaxed his iron control over himself before, but he had never thought he would see Steve be so open about his thoughts and feelings until Steve had truly opened up the night before.

At the moment Steve looked like he was thinking about bolting, so Danny murmured, “Babe, calm down.”

Steve flushed and tried to look more confident as he looked away from Danny and said quickly, “I am calm.” He wasn’t really, not at all, but he wasn’t about to admit he was nervous and getting more so by the moment. Meeting Gracie as someone who worked with her Danno had gone well, sure, and she had seemed like she liked him, but now there was a good chance that was all about to change. Danny would be explaining to her in just a few minutes that he had fallen in love with Steve, and Steve was trying very hard not to even _think_ about what he would do if Grace was upset by the idea of her Danno living with him. Danny would do anything for his baby girl, no matter how miserable it made him, and Steve was terrifyingly certain that Danny would forget all about moving in with him if Grace wasn’t comfortable with it.

Danny snorted, amused despite the throbbing in his knee. “Yeah, and I’m Miss Muffet.” He reached for Steve’s hand, causing Steve to look at him again as he murmured, “She _likes you_ , babe, I promise. She’s shy and didn’t show it so much last time you two were around each other, but she told me later that she wanted to spend time with you more often.” Danny didn’t add _why_ Grace liked Steve so much. He didn’t think Steve’s ego needed any encouragement, so he wasn’t about to tell Steve that Grace thought he was as handsome as one of the princes in the fairytales she loved. She was right, of course, but that was completely beside the point.

Steve blinked and then tangled their fingers together as he gave Danny a slightly sheepish look that he couldn’t quite make into a smile. “I’m glad,” he murmured, praying he could find it in himself to do the right things and make sure Grace _kept_ liking him. He wasn’t any good with children, Danny had said so himself more than once, but he wanted things to be different with Grace. He had heard so much about her from Danny that he already loved her, even though they had hardly spoken yet, and knowing how important she was to Danny just made him even more anxious for her to like him.

Steve suddenly noticed movement out of the corner of his eye and looked towards the glass-paneled door they were approaching. Rachel was hurrying down the staircase inside the house, looking upset and harried as she waved off someone he couldn’t see and said something. Steve’s attention was distracted from her again when he reached the house’s front steps, and he let go of Danny’s hand, moving to grab his elbow and lower arm firmly so Danny would have something to brace against to relieve some of the weight on his knee as he climbed the steps.

Steve wished he could just carry Danny inside, but he knew Danny would have had a fit if he even _suggested_ carrying him into Rachel’s house, so he hadn’t bothered to offer. Having Catherine watch him carrying Danny around hadn’t bothered Danny the night before, but when _Mary_ saw Steve carry him downstairs that morning Danny had been mortified by her reaction. She had started giggling when she saw them, and after she noticed Danny’s embarrassment she had teased him about being the wife until Catherine dragged her out the front door and gave her a piece of her mind. Mary had apologized during breakfast, but Steve was sure Danny wouldn’t so easily let himself be carried around ever again, not while there were witnesses at least.

Danny had to grit his teeth as he climbed the three low stairs up to the door and then he stopped and took his weight off of his bad leg, leaning against Steve and grateful for the support as he took a deep breath and waited for the pain to recede slightly. He saw Rachel walking towards them then and smiled at her, glancing at Steve as he murmured even more quietly than before, “She’s gonna love you like I do.”

Steve glanced at Rachel and then looked back down into Danny’s bright blue eyes, asking softly, “How can you know that?”

“’Cause I know my little girl, and I know _you_ ,” Danny said easily. “She’s gonna fall for you like a ton of bricks, babe. Trust me on this.”

Rachel opened the door then, making Steve and Danny both look at her as she said quickly, “I’m so sorry you had to get out on that leg, Danny, but I truly didn’t see any other choice. The cousins are always _horrid_ to Grace, and funerals always leave her depressed for _days_ , but I simply _must_ go handle the arrangements and—“

“It’s fine, Rach,” Danny said quickly, cutting her off. “Don’t worry about it, okay? You know I’m always glad to have a little extra time with my daughter. I’m _grateful_ you’re letting her stay with us and so is Steve.”

Rachel flushed slightly at that. “I know you are,” she murmured softly, looking into Danny’s eyes with a pensive expression. She had obviously been crying, though she had redone her makeup in an attempt to hide it, so Danny pretended not to see it. “You’ve always been a wonderful father to Grace, no matter what I might have said in the heat of the moment. I’m sorry that I ever implied differently.”

“Thanks, Rach,” Danny murmured, more than a little shocked that Rachel had actually _apologized_. It just wasn’t something she did very often, especially to him, and it made him wonder again just exactly what Steve had said to her while he was sleeping. “It’s good to hear that you know that.”

“No need to thank me, Daniel.” Rachel suddenly looked away and opened the door wider, moving to let them into the house as she added more firmly, “Do come in and sit down before you fall down. You should be staying off that leg, not standing on my doorstep.”

Danny pulled away from Steve without a word and limped into the house, glad to have Steve’s reassuring presence at his shoulder as he moved several feet inside the door and then stopped, looking around. He had only been in Rachel’s home three times before, each time to carry Grace’s things in from his car when his time with her was up, and he had never lingered or even gone inside past the foyer. Danny and Rachel had been getting along surprisingly well since the governor spoke to her, something he was still a little shocked about, but he knew from experience that it would take very little to set them at each other’s throats again so he never lingered near her if he could avoid it.

Steve’s presence might be enough to help them avoid another fight, though. Steve had promised to keep Danny from fighting with Rachel, and he was very good at saying just the right thing to divert Danny’s attention to fussing at him instead of other people so Danny felt safe trusting him.

Steve smiled at Rachel as he followed Danny into the house, waiting until she had closed the door before he murmured quietly, “It’s nice to finally meet you, Rachel. I’m sorry it had to be in such unfortunate circumstances.”

“Thank you, Steve,” Rachel replied automatically, giving him a brief smile that seemed only a little forced even though it didn’t reach her serious brown eyes. “It’s lovely to meet you, too.”

Steve couldn’t help feeling a little sympathy for her as he asked quietly, “Is there anything else we can do to help you, Rachel? I know what it’s like, losing family.”

Rachel stared at Steve in surprise for an instant before she forced another smile that was brighter than the last, but also more obviously faked. “No, no, I’m fine, thank you. You just worry about Daniel. I know he won’t take care of himself unless he has someone making him.”

Steve gave her a searching look. “If you’re sure.”

“Of course I am,” Rachel said firmly as she moved away, gesturing towards the sitting area further into the house. “I’m sorry, but I really need to finish packing before the taxi gets here to take me to the airport. Why don’t you two have a seat, and I’ll go tell Grace you’re here?”

“Sure, Rachel,” Danny agreed, watching her with concern. “Send her down and don’t worry about us. We get that you need to go.”

“I really must,” Rachel agreed, moving quickly towards the stairs. She paused on the bottom step to look at them again, just staring at them for a few moments before she met Danny’s gaze and said abruptly, “I’m happy for you.” Her gaze shifted to Steve. “Both of you.” She didn’t wait for a reply, turning away again to practically run up the stairs as she called, “Grace! Your father is here!”

“Danno!” Grace yelled faintly somewhere upstairs.

Steve heard a door close upstairs followed by the barely audible sound of running footsteps, and he smiled slightly as he put one hand at the small of Danny’s back. “Brace yourself, _hiwahiwa_ ,” he murmured. “She needs her Danno today.”

Danny glanced at Steve and murmured, “No more than I need her.” He smiled slightly, adding even more quietly, “Or you.” He didn’t wait for Steve to reply before he limped towards the stairs as quickly as his knee would allow, sure that Steve needed him just as much.

Danny made it to the bottom of the staircase just as Grace appeared at the top and began to hurry down them, and he was glad he had time to brace himself as Steve had suggested before she got close enough to launch herself at him, trusting him to catch her. He dropped his cane as he scooped her up, and she wrapped her arms around his neck as she burst into tears. “Danno, Nana _died_ and we didn’t even get to hug her goodbye at the airport last time she visited.”

Danny held Grace tightly, closing his eyes as they blurred with tears of his own. “Oh, baby,” he murmured, kissing Grace’s hair. “Nana knew how much we loved her, I promise. She didn’t mind that you had to be in school or that I had to work.”

Steve moved to pick up Danny’s cane and then just stood there silently by Danny’s shoulder as he watched Danny and Grace, not really surprised by the tears on Danny’s cheeks. Danny had told him a little bit about Rachel’s grandmother during the drive over there, and he knew that she was the only one of Rachel’s relatives who had ever been anything more than polite to Danny and Grace. Rachel’s family had had quite a bit of money until her father made some very costly mistakes in the stock market when Rachel was attending Oxford, and the majority of the family refused to acknowledge they weren’t truly part of the upper crust any longer. Most of them wouldn’t associate with a cop from Newark _or_ his daughter, and the few who were willing to speak to Danny and Grace had never treated them well. Rachel’s grandmother ‘Nana’ had been the only one to really give Danny a chance, and she had instantly adored him, earning herself a spot in Danny’s heart and later Grace’s. Nana had loved them both and doted on them from what Danny had told Steve, and he was very sure they would both miss her.

Steve didn’t want to get in the way of Danny and Grace consoling each other, but after a few minutes he happened to glance down and realized Danny’s good leg was trembling slightly with the strain of supporting most of his weight as well as Grace’s. He hesitated for only a moment longer before murmuring gently, “Danny, I’m sorry to interrupt, but you really need to sit down.”

Grace pulled away from Danny then. “Your leg!” She squirmed, still crying as she looked worriedly first at Steve and then at Danny, patting Danny’s shoulders with her hands. “Put me down, Danno!”

“Okay, okay.” Danny kissed Grace’s cheek and then set her on her feet, wincing as he shifted to test his bad leg and then swaying slightly as it buckled under him.

Steve grabbed Danny’s elbow to steady him, and Danny shot him a grateful look as Grace cried, “I made it worse!” She began to cry harder as she added, “I’m so sorry, Danno.”

Danny looked back down at Grace and said quickly, “You didn’t make it worse, Monkey. I hurt it worse _yesterday_.” Grace bit her lower lip, reminding Steve strongly of Danny at his most worried as she just looked up at Danny, and Danny looked at Steve. “Tell her, Steve, please. She didn’t hurt me, right?”

“Of course she didn’t,” Steve agreed quickly, then looked down at Grace again, surprised to find her staring up into his eyes, wide-eyed and upset but looking almost hopeful. “Your Danno’s leg got hurt again yesterday, _kama lei_. Do you know what physical therapy is?”

Grace nodded even though she was a little surprised by Steve calling her _kama lei_. “Like when the doctor makes you exercise to get better after you’re hurt. Danno’s had to go to that before. It always makes him sore and unhappy after, so he doesn’t like doing it when we’re going to be together. He always makes them do it on Mondays so he can be sore at work instead of when he’s with me.”

“Right,” Steve agreed, smiling at Grace. “Your Danno started that again yesterday afternoon after he had to drop you off for your lesson, and the therapist they gave him at the hospital was an idiot. He made Danno do _way_ too much and now he’s hurting a lot more, but it was _nothing_ you did, okay?”

Grace nibbled her lip again, staring up at Steve for a moment longer before she looked at Danny, lifting one hand to wipe away some of the tears still on her face. “Promise?”

“I promise, Monkey,” Danny agreed immediately, glad Steve had reacted so quickly with a good answer for Grace. “It’s completely not your fault.”

Grace gave Danny a shaky little smile then, looking relieved as she asked softly, “Can I do anything to help make it better?”

“You can help me get your Danno to stay off his feet,” Steve said immediately, drawing Grace’s attention back to him. “His leg is hurting him pretty bad now, but he’s stubborn and he’ll do things anyway if we let him.”

“So we won’t let him,” Grace said firmly, the last of her uncertainty fading away as she looked back at Danny. “Mommy said you’d help me pack when you got here, Danno, but you shouldn’t walk all the way up to my room if your leg hurts so much. You sit down and I’ll go pack for myself, okay?”

“You’ll need help, Monkey,” Danny said, frowning slightly. “You need clothes and stuff for the whole week, and your school things, too.”

Grace frowned for a moment and then brightened. “Steve can help carry. He won’t mind.” She turned her head to look up at Steve again. “Right?”

“Of course I don’t mind, if that’s okay with Danny,” Steve agreed, smiling at Grace and then looking questioningly at Danny. “It’s either that or you let me car—“

“You can help her, that’s a good idea,” Danny said quickly, interrupting Steve as he gave him a quelling look and reached for his cane to take it back. Steve’s lips twitched slightly, not quite smiling, and Danny looked back down at Grace as he pretended he hadn’t seen Steve’s amusement. “We need to talk to you first though, okay Monkey?”

“Okay,” Grace agreed easily, looking a little confused.

Danny smiled at her and then turned away to limp over to the small formal sitting area that Rachel had pointed him towards when they walked in, fighting hard to hide how badly every step hurt. Steve was right by him all the way, holding the elbow of his free arm and trying to support his weight as much as Danny would let him, and Danny was grateful for the help even though it made him flush with embarrassment as he hoped Rachel wouldn’t see it. He was sure she would take it badly, and he didn’t want to upset her just when they were starting to sort of get along for the first time since the morning she made him his favorite breakfast and then told him she wanted a divorce.

Steve helped Danny sit down on an uncomfortable-looking loveseat and then hesitated instead of moving away, murmuring, “You should put that leg up.”

Danny glanced at Grace, seeing how worried she was, and then turned his attention back to Steve and sighed. “Yeah, okay. You two might be a while upstairs.” He shifted on the unyielding cushions of the small couch, hating the fact Rachel still bought furniture for looks instead of comfort and wishing fleetingly that he was on Steve’s old couch instead. Steve’s leather monstrosity used to be much lighter in color and stiff to the touch because his father had neglected it for so long, but Steve had patiently applied leather conditioner to it a dozen times since he inherited the house and now the leather was soft and supple. The couch still looked about as inviting as a concrete bench, but it was actually very comfortable.

Steve smiled at Grace, hoping he looked reassuring as he asked, “Grace, do you think you could go find a couple of pillows? The doctor told your Danno to prop his leg up whenever he can so the swelling in his knee can go down and it won’t hurt him so much. He’s been using couch pillows, if you know where to find any.”

Grace nodded quickly. “There’s lots of couch pillows in the den. I’ll be right back.” She didn’t wait for an answer before she turned away, running off down the hallway on the far side of the stairs from the door.

Danny watched her go and then looked back at Steve, murmuring softly, “Thanks, babe.”

Steve smiled softly and knelt at Danny’s feet, reaching for his right foot and looking down to take off Danny’s shoe as he replied just as quietly, “I didn’t think you wanted her to see how much it’s going to hurt you, getting your leg up on the couch.”

“I don’t,” Danny agreed softly, trying hard to ignore the sound of two sets of footsteps coming down the stairs, one quiet and the other the loud distinctive sound of heels. He was sure that it was Rachel and the maid, and he could feel Rachel watching them even though he didn’t look up at her as he let Steve help him swing his leg up off the floor and onto the couch, clenching his jaw to try and keep quiet but unable to stop a soft whimper.

Steve fought the urge to apologize, sure Danny would be unhappy if he did, and watched Danny’s face as he listened to someone walk to the front door while another person came towards them, sure it was probably Rachel. It was someone wearing heels, he could be sure of that much, and Danny was so studiously not looking towards the sound that Steve didn’t really doubt it was her. He knew Danny wouldn’t want Rachel to see him at what Danny felt was a weak moment, despite the fact Steve had seen veteran SEALs reduced to a keening, crying mess by much more minor knee injuries. He had vivid memories of his own knee injury, which hadn’t been half as severe as Danny’s was, and he was very sure Danny was one of the toughest people he had ever known.

Danny took a few slow shaky breaths and then forced a smile for Steve. “I’m fine, babe.”

“You’re not, but I can’t really change that,” Steve corrected, getting up off of the floor and finally looking towards the approaching person in heels just as Rachel stopped a few feet away. The person who had walked to the door turned out to be a maid, who put a heavy-looking suitcase down just inside the door and then hurried away without a sound.

Rachel had a small carry-on bag in one hand and a garment bag folded over her arm, looking concerned and pensive as she gazed at Danny and murmured, “You truly destroyed it again, didn’t you?”

“Yeah, pretty much,” Danny agreed, wondering if that was all she was going to say.

Rachel looked at Danny for a moment longer and then turned her attention abruptly to Steve. “Well, at least he’ll let _you_ help him.” They could all hear Grace coming back down the hall towards them as Rachel looked at Danny again, her tone shifting to something a little bitter as she added, “He never would allow _me_ to.”

“Rachel,” Danny began, but then he fell silent, completely at a loss for what to say. It was true, he couldn’t deny it, but he didn’t want to say _why_ he had never accepted her help either, not where Grace might hear it. He wasn’t even sure he wanted say it where _Rachel_ could hear him. Steve would gladly humiliate himself or even give his _life_ to make Danny happy, but Rachel simply wasn’t the kind of person who could ever be so selfless. Danny had known it almost as long as he had known her, and he couldn’t really fault her for it even though it had always affected their relationship to some extent. He had loved her more than he felt like he probably should have, even after she told him about Stan, but she had always made him feel like he _owed_ her for it whenever he let her help him.

“I told you that I never give up, Rachel,” Steve said gently, making Rachel and Danny both look at him in surprise. Steve smiled slightly at Rachel, adding very quietly, “He complains all the time that I’m the most stubborn person he’s ever met, but it’s true. I’ll take care of him _and_ Grace as much as he’ll let me until the day I die, and if I can manage it somehow after that, I will.”

Grace stopped a few feet away with her armload of couch pillows when she realized her mother and Steve were talking, watching them as she wondered why Mommy was looking at Steve with such a surprised expression. Steve wasn’t like a lot of adults Grace had met, but she liked him a lot and Danno had told her she should always trust Steve just like she trusted him. Danno said that Steve was one of the best people he knew, no matter how crazy the Navy had made him, and she knew Steve was his very best friend besides her. Even when Danno complained about Steve, he always eventually reminded himself – and her – that Steve had spent every day since he was eighteen trying to make the world a safer place, risking his life so many times that he had stopped even _noticing_ when he did dangerous things.

Rachel stared up into Steve’s eyes for a minute or so and then finally gave him a tiny, wry little smile. “Somehow I believe you’ll find a way, Commander.”

“Count on it,” Steve said firmly and then looked over at Grace, his smile widening and shifting into something much warmer. “Those pillows look perfect, Gracie. Thank you.”

Grace smiled back at Steve as she moved closer to offer him the pillows in her arms, glancing at her mom and then looking back up at Steve. “I checked all the cushions to get the best ones. These aren’t hard, but they don’t go all flat when I sit on them either.”

“They’ll be just right then,” Steve agreed, taking the pillows from her and then turning back towards Danny, who was watching him with a soft smile. He leaned down to put the pillows on the couch next to Danny’s knee as he asked, “Are you moving it, or am I?”

Danny thought about it a moment and then sighed, shifting to lean back more against the arm of the couch and brace himself to help lift his leg. “You better do it. You’re quicker.”

“Alright,” Steve agreed, not giving Danny time to tense up in anticipation of the pain before he slid his hand under Danny’s calf and lifted it up, moving the pillows underneath.

Danny clenched his jaw and inhaled sharply at the flare of pain in his knee, but he was proud that he hadn’t whimpered again as he tried to smile at Steve. “Thanks, babe.”

Steve smiled at Danny even though he hated that he had hurt him again, moving away a little as he murmured, “You needed to talk to Grace?”

“ _We_ need to talk to Grace,” Danny corrected. “Sit.” He pointed at the couch by his foot, waiting for Steve to sit down before he looked at Grace, who was chewing on her lower lip again and looked upset. He reached out to her, murmuring, “Stop trying to eat your lip and come here, Monkey. I’ll be okay. I’ve hurt my knee before, remember? It always gets better.”

Grace moved to hug him tightly, murmuring, “I don’t like when you hurt it. I want to help, but I can’t really do anything.”

“Yes you can. Watching you have fun always helps me feel better, remember?” Danny murmured, rocking her gently. “You can do that later this evening. I bet Steve will even take you swimming if you want him to, he loves the water just as much as you do.”

Grace pulled away enough to look at Danny again, surprised and a little wide-eyed. “We’re going to the beach?”

Danny smiled at Grace. “Well, sort of. Steve’s house is at the beach, like I told you, and we’ll be going there today. The chairs on his _lanai_ are really comfortable and I’m looking forward to sitting out there with my feet up and relaxing while I watch you two play.” He paused and then added, “That’s part of what we need to talk to you about.” Grace looked curious but didn’t say anything, and after a moment he went on. “You know that Steve’s been my best friend pretty much since I met him, and that I care about him a whole lot, right?”

Grace nodded, smiling slightly. “He drives you crazy sometimes, but he makes you smile a lot too, even when you’re trying to yell at him.”

Danny laughed slightly and nodded, giving Grace a wry smile and trying not to think about the fact Rachel was standing there listening to every word they said. “Yeah, Monkey, he does.” He paused again, searching for the right words, and then finally decided that there was really only one way to say what he needed to say. He took a deep breath and then went on, “Well, we started out just friends, but somewhere along the way, I realized that I love him.”

Grace’s eyes widened and she turned to look at Steve quickly. “Do you love Danno, too?”

Steve smiled at Grace, nodding. “More than anything, Grace.”

Grace stared into Steve’s eyes for a moment and then turned back toward Danny, and he was surprised to see that she looked a little bit worried. She hesitated a moment, obviously wanting to say something, and he waited patiently until she suddenly blurted, “Like best friends, or like people that get married?”

Danny wasn’t sure how Grace would react to his answer, but there was really only one thing he could say without lying to her, which was something he had promised her he would never do. Sometimes he had to tell her she wasn’t old enough to know about something she asked him, and twice he had refused to talk about things that she just didn’t need to _ever_ know, but he never lied to her. “Like people who get married, Monkey. Steve and I _are_ best friends, but somewhere along the line we fell in love, too. We just didn’t really notice it until now.”

“They can’t get married though, Grace,” Rachel pointed out suddenly, making Danny, Steve, and Grace all look at her in surprise.

“They can so!” Grace protested, suddenly frowning up at her mother.

“Grace, sweetheart, I wish that they could, but it’s not possible,” Rachel said quietly, looking surprised. “There are only a few states that allow gay marriage in America, and this is not one of them. That’s not something we can change.”

“They can’t get the paper from some stupid _church_ saying they’re married,” Grace said quickly, rolling her eyes, “but that’s not the most important part of being married, Mommy. You’re _supposed_ to get married because you love someone so much you want to promise you’ll stay with them _forever_.”

Rachel flinched at that, giving Danny a stricken look, but Grace didn’t see it because she had already turned back towards Danny again, and Danny pretended not to see it as well. He had never said a bad word about Rachel’s choices to Grace, and he had tried hard to keep her from resenting Rachel for choosing to find a rich man instead of keeping their family together, but he wasn’t going to tell Grace she was wrong for telling the truth as she saw it. He knew his little girl was perfectly capable of forming her own opinions on the world, and that she often understood a lot more of what was going on around her than even he gave her credit for. He had made excuses to Grace for Rachel’s behavior more than once, and he knew he would do it again, but this time he just couldn’t make himself do it.

“You can’t get the paper that says you’re _married_ to Steve, Danno,” Grace repeated, ignoring everything else to gaze earnestly into Danny’s eyes as he marveled at her fire and how smart she was. “But you _can_ have the wedding and make the promise and do paperwork that gives you the same rights a marriage certificate does. Mrs. Ishimura said so, and she’s a _teacher_ that did it, so she _knows._ I asked lots of questions the day that she told us about it in class because I thought you might need to know.”

“Why did you think that, Monkey?” Danny asked, unable to keep from smiling.

“Because sometimes when you talk about Steve it makes you look like you used to look at Mommy before she broke your heart,” Grace replied promptly. “You were always so lonely after Mommy decided we couldn’t be a family anymore, Danno, but since Steve made you part of his _ohana_ you’ve been so much happier when I call while Mommy won’t let me be with you.” Her smile faded. “Well, you have been until you got hurt. Auntie Kono says you’ve been fighting with Steve about something since then, but she promised me that she would find out what happened and help fix it if you two didn’t fix it yourselves soon.” She tilted her head slightly, brightening a little as she asked, “ _Was_ it Auntie Kono that helped fix it?”

Danny stared at Grace in amazement for a few seconds before he laughed softly. “No, baby, it was Steve’s best friend Catherine. She talked to him yesterday and helped him figure out why I was so upset with him, and then he came to my apartment to talk to me and we fixed it all.”

Grace beamed and hugged Danny tight. “I’m so happy for you, Danno.”

Danny gave her a squeeze, looking over her shoulder at Steve as he said, “You have no idea how happy it makes me to hear that, Monkey.” He pulled away from Grace then, looking into her eyes as he added, “You should be happy for Steve too, though. He’s been even more lonely than I have, and for a lot longer, too.”

“Because his mommy died, and then his dad sent Steve and his sister Mary away because he was hurting too much to be a dad anymore,” Grace agreed, suddenly solemn while Steve stared at her and then at Danny in surprise. “They had to go live with strangers in different places that were nothing like where they grew up, just like we had to leave New Jersey and all our family there when Mommy decided she wanted to marry Step-Stan and live here.”

Danny nodded, pretending not to notice Steve staring at him. “That’s right, but at least you and I had each other. Steve had nobody at all after he left home until he met Catherine a few years later. They became best friends and she helped him feel like he wasn’t alone anymore, but it’s not the same as having _family_ around, especially when the Navy kept them apart most of the time.”

“I have three best friends, but I don’t love any of them like I love you and Mommy,” Grace agreed, hugging Danny tightly again. “It’d be awful if I never got to be with you again until I was all grown up. I’d cry all the time.”

Danny returned the hug, looking past Grace at Steve for a moment, not really surprised by how amazed Steve looked. He had told Steve that he talked to Grace and they commiserated over the little daily problems in their lives, but he was sure that Steve had never expected he was the topic of conversation so often. Grace had been telling the simple truth at that football game when she told Steve that Danny talked about him a lot. Somehow most of their conversations about Danny’s day led to Steve, even when he tried to avoid mentioning him. Grace had started asking questions about Steve almost from the beginning, and Danny was sure that she knew more about Steve than even he realized.

Danny suddenly remembered one of the things Grace had always giggled the most over and he smiled as he pulled away from her to look at her again. “You know what I bet Steve missed the most about having family, though?”

Grace looked interested, smiling as she shook her head. “No, what?”

Danny leaned closer, grinning at Grace as he whispered loudly, “Hugs. He didn’t get _nearly_ enough of them.”

Grace giggled. “You _always_ say he didn’t get hugged enough.”

“It’s true!” Danny said, pretending to be indignant. “His dad packed him off to _military school_. Hugs aren’t even _allowed_ there.”

Grace’s eyes widened and she turned to look at Steve. “Really?”

Steve let out a soft little surprised huff of a laugh. “Well yes, at the school I attended it _was_ in the code of conduct to avoid displays of affection. The people who ran the school thought that it would help us learn to be tough.”

“But you were just a kid!” Grace protested, still wide-eyed. “Kids need _lots_ of hugs like the ones Danno gives. He makes me feel so happy and safe and like I’m warm all over because he loves me so much.”

Steve smiled crookedly. “Not every child is lucky enough to have a Danno, Gracie. My dad didn’t really know how to give hugs, and after my mom died he sent Mare and me away so we never got to see each other anymore, not until recently anyway.”

Grace stared at Steve a moment longer and then moved suddenly to throw her arms around his neck, hugging him tightly. “I’ll share my Danno with you. We’ll give you lots of hugs.”

Steve froze in surprise and maybe a little panic if he was honest with himself, staring wide-eyed over her shoulder at Danny, who quickly but silently mimed hugging her.

Steve hesitated only an instant longer before he wrapped his arms around Grace, hugging her very carefully as he hid his face against her hair and inhaled the scent of coconut and pineapple that clung to her, probably from her shampoo. She was so small that he was almost afraid he’d hurt her, but after a moment how tight she was holding on to him made it plain she was pretty strong for her size, which helped him relax a little more. He closed his eyes then to just savor the fact she _wanted_ to hug him as he murmured, “Thank you, _kama lei_.”

Danny watched them with a smile, feeling like his heart might burst with pride for his little girl, who somehow had seen the loving heart that Steve fought so hard to hide right from the moment they met at that football game that had gone so badly. Steve could be one of the sweetest men Danny had ever met, at least when they were off-duty, and Danny loved the fact that Grace could see that as easily as he did. It had taken Rachel _weeks_ after the wedding to convince Grace to hug Step-Stan at all, and Grace still avoided hugging him when she could, but Grace had showed no hesitation to give Steve a real hug.

Grace hugged Steve for a little longer and then finally pulled away enough to give Steve a happy smile. “You’ll get better at hugs, don’t worry. Danno’s hugs are the best, they make the whole world seem better.”

“They do,” Steve agreed, smiling at Grace and feeling kind of awed and loved. “You give wonderful hugs, though, so I hope maybe sometimes I can get a hug from you too.”

“I’ll hug you anytime you want,” Grace said, beaming. “Danno says that giving hugs to people you care about is one of the most important things you can do because you never know when you’ll get to see them again.”

“Danno is very smart about that kind of thing,” Steve said, smiling wider. “I want you to know that I’ll be glad to hug you anytime you want, okay? I know I’m not very good at it yet, but I’m still learning. Until yesterday I hadn’t hugged anyone but Cath in a long time, and she and I don’t see each other much because of our jobs so I didn’t get to hug her very often either.”

“You give great hugs,” Grace said quickly. “Just not as good as _Danno_. His hugs are better than _anyone_.”

Steve grinned at Grace. “I have to agree with you there, _kama lei_.”

“What does that mean?” Rachel asked suddenly, making Danny, Steve, and Grace look at her in surprise. She pursed her lips slightly, her tone sharpening as she added, “You’ve called Grace _kama_ -something several times now.”

Danny knew that Rachel’s snippy tone of voice was likely inspired by the fact they had obviously forgotten she was eventhere, and hefought the urge to roll his eyes, wishing Rachel’s taxi would just hurry up and get there. He had thought it would make Grace feel more at home to have the conversation about the change in his relationship with Steve while they were all in Rachel’s home, but now he wished he had waited until the three of them were alone. Steve was trying very hard and doing great with Grace despite his complete lack of experience with kids, and Danny didn’t want Rachel saying something that made Steve feel he had done anything wrong.

“I called her _kama lei_ ,” Steve said, trying not to let himself get annoyed about Rachel sticking her nose into something that he felt should be between Danny, Grace, and himself. She had _chosen_ to break up the happy little family she had with Danny and Grace, but he knew that seeing him with Danny and Grace still had to sting. He couldn’t imagine anyone being married to Danny for almost seven years and not loving him even after it was over, at least a little bit, so he was sure Rachel still had feelings for him. “It’s one of many Hawaiian terms of endearment for a child.”

“It means ‘favorite child’, Mommy,” Grace added, making Steve look at her in surprise. Grace didn’t notice him staring at her, looking up at her mother instead as she added, “That’s what my teacher Mr. Kelly calls his daughter, Leila. He teases her brothers all the time that they’re his _kama_ , or children, but he calls Leila his _kama lei_ because she’s his favorite.” She looked back at Steve, adding, “Right?”

“Exactly right,” Steve agreed, pleased that Grace actually understood what he had been saying, or mostly so at least. _Kama lei_ actually meant ‘beloved child’, but Steve thought ‘favorite child’ was definitely close enough. “Just like you’re my favorite little girl.”

Grace blinked and then laughed. “Danno told me you don’t _know_ any little girls besides me.”

Steve grinned at Grace. “Well, at least you won’t have to work too hard to _stay_ my favorite.”

Grace started giggling as Danny said dryly, “Way to teach my darling baby girl to look on the bright side, Steven.”

Steve looked at Danny, pretending surprise. “What?! It’s _true_!”

Danny let out a little snort of a laugh. “I know.”

“Do you know many Hawaiian words, Grace?” Rachel asked suddenly.

Danny frowned as he looked up at Rachel, wondering just how much time she was spending really paying attention to Grace. _He_ knew that Grace had been learning Hawaiian since her very first day at the expensive private school Rachel insisted she go to, and it bothered him that Rachel wasn’t paying enough attention to Grace’s schooling to be aware of that.

Steve saw Danny’s annoyance and Rachel’s surprise and put two and two together and got an answer he didn’t like. What Grace was doing in class was something that he really thought Rachel should have known, especially since one of the things she used against Danny in the custody hearings was that Danny’s job kept him from spending enough time with Grace. From the sound of it Danny knew more about Grace’s school work than Rachel did, and Danny only got to see his baby girl an average of five or six days a _month_.

“Not yet,” Grace said, making a face at her mother. She sat down on the couch by Steve, absently hooking her arm through his like she would have done if she were sitting by Danno or Auntie Kono. “Mr. Kelly has been teaching us a few new words every week when we do our vocabulary lesson, but it’s kind of hard. Hawaiian words don’t have very many different letters in them, but there’s so many words that mean almost the same thing that it gets kind of confusing.”

“It can be,” Steve agreed, forcing himself to put aside his anger at Rachel so he could smile as Grace looked towards him again. He was going to have to have another talk with Pat, but he knew that would have to wait until he and Danny had signed the paperwork to make their relationship official. “I’d be glad to help with your studying anytime you want me to. My mom was _kama’aina_ and she taught me to speak Hawaiian and pidgin when I was just a baby, even though Dad always complained if he caught us talking it.” He grinned. “It drove him crazy because a lot of the time he had no idea what we were saying. His friends growing up were all military brats and he never really learned to speak Hawaiian.”

Grace giggled. “Aunt Kono’s been calling every week to help me with pronouncing things. Daddy asked her to help me practice after I did kind of bad on an oral exam, and sometimes she teaches me things that aren’t even on the tests I have every Friday.”

“Kono’s a wonderful choice to teach you,” Steve agreed. “She knows _all_ the Hawaiian languages, even the secret ones people like you and me will never even be allowed to hear.”

“Wow,” Grace murmured, wide-eyed.

Steve smiled. “Yeah. Anytime I don’t know something about Hawai’i that we need for a case, I always ask Kono or Chin. I know a lot about Hawai’i and the culture here, it’s been home all my life, but they know so much more that I might as well be a _haole_.”

“Hawai'i was your home even when you didn’t live here?” Grace asked, curious.

“Especially then,” Steve agreed, nodding. “My mom told me once when we were visiting her brother on Moloka’i that my home is something no one can take away from me as long as I keep it in my heart, and she was right. Even when I was in the middle of a desert on the other side of the world, I’ve always been able to close my eyes and go back home in my heart.”

“Into the ocean? Danno says you were born in the water,” Grace said then, smiling at Steve. “He thinks you’re part fish.”

“I actually _was_ born in the water, but I don’t know how Danno knew that,” Steve said, grinning at Grace. “My mom had a friend who was a midwife, and she made sure both Mary and I were born in a bathtub that had ocean water added to hot tap water because she wanted us to feel at home in the ocean like she always did. It’s a tradition in her family for all the babies to be born into the ocean.”

“That explains _so much_ ,” Danny said suddenly, pretending to be exasperated. “No wonder you’re always stripping to your shorts and leaping into the ocean. You were warped by it before you even took your first _breath_.”

Steve laughed and looked at Danny. “Maybe so, Danno, but being a water baby has its perks. I could swim before I could walk, and I can stay underwater longer than anyone else I know.”

Grace giggled. “Swimming is _lots_ more fun than walking.”

Steve grinned at Grace and nodded. “I think so, too.”

“Oh god, no, don’t do that,” Danny said quickly, only mostly teasing. “I have enough trouble from you two now, I don’t need you teaming up against me!”

Someone rang the doorbell then, and Rachel said loudly, “Finally!” She turned away to walk quickly towards the front door as she added, “If I miss that plane I will be giving the taxi company a piece of my mind.”

Danny turned his head to watch Rachel, his amusement fading into exasperation. “There was probably a lot of traffic, Rachel. It’s Sunday and all of the tourists are out, trying to get the most out of their last day before they have to go home.”

Rachel ignored him, opening the door and offering her carry-on and garment bag to the surprised, harried-looking man who was standing there. “Put these in the back seat, and my suitcase too.” She pointed at the suitcase that stood by the door. “I will be right out.”

The man gave her a dirty look and grabbed the bigger suitcase, then turned away to go put her bags into the taxi as he said, “Of _course_ I wouldn’t mind playing packmule for you, lady. Why would I mind, when you’re being so _nice_?”

Rachel flushed but pretended not to hear him, turning back towards Danny, Grace, and Steve as she bent down and said, “Come give me a hug, Grace darling. I need to go.”

Grace let go of Steve’s arm and ran to hug her mother, suddenly unhappy again as she remembered why she had to go. “I’m so sorry about Nana, Mommy.”

“Oh baby, I know you are,” Rachel said quietly, giving Grace a squeeze and then pulling away to give Grace a soft little sad smile. “But I know how dreadfully unhappy you would be if I made you come to London with me, and that would just make _me_ even more upset than I already am so it’s better if you spend time with your daddy this week. Knowing you’re happy with him will make everything so much easier on me, I promise.”

“You’re sure?” Grace asked, biting her lower lip.

“Very sure,” Rachel agreed. She kissed Grace’s cheek and then stroked her hair, smiling at her. “Next weekend would have been your weekend with Danny anyway, so I’ll see you on Sunday night.”

Grace nodded quickly. “Okay.”

“Very good, then,” Rachel said brightly, forcing a wide smile. She kissed Grace’s forehead and then stood, smiling down at her. “You be good for your father. He’s not feeling well, no matter what he says.”

“I’m always good for Daddy,” Grace agreed, smiling slightly up at her mother. “Me and Steve will take really good care of him.”

Rachel looked over at Danny and Steve for a moment and then looked back down at Grace, her smile obviously a bit more forced. “I’m sure you will. I’ll expect you to call every night before bed to say goodnight and tell me how your day was.”

“Alright, Mommy,” Grace agreed, pleased by that even though she didn’t understand why her mother looked so unhappy.

“Good bye, darling,” Rachel said, bending to hug Grace once more and then looking at Danny and Steve. “Thank you both for taking Grace on such short notice.”

“Anytime,” Steve said quickly, giving Rachel a bland smile that he had perfected years ago. He didn’t want her to see how glad he was that she was leaving, even just for a week. He knew it would just cause trouble between them. “Have a safe flight.”

Danny nodded, resisting the urge to say half a dozen things that wanted to come tumbling out. Rachel’s obvious unhappiness about him and Steve was annoying him, but she was about to leave and then he would have a whole week with Grace. Rachel would be on the other side of the world and too busy with her relatives to spare much time for tormenting him, so he wouldn’tevenhave to worry that she would let Grace stay with him a day and then come up with some reason to take her back. “I’m _always_ glad to have Grace with me. We both are.”

Rachel looked at Danny for a moment and then murmured, “I know that you are.” She looked down to give Grace one last fleeting smile and then turned away. “I’ll talk to you tonight, darling. Enjoy the beach.”

“I will, Mommy,” Grace said quickly, moving to stand at the door and watch as Rachel got into the taxi. Rachel smiled at her and waved as the taxi began to pull away, and Grace waved back, then watched it go before she closed the door and turned back towards Steve and Danno.

Danny smiled encouragingly at Grace, holding out one hand as he said, “Come here, Monkey.” She looked unsure and a little sad, and he wanted to make her smile so he added, “I need a cuddle.”

Grace walked quickly over to her dad, but she stopped next to the couch. “Won’t it hurt your leg?”

“Nah,” Danny said easily, “Steve’s got it all propped up. I’ll be fine.”

Grace hesitated a moment longer and then nodded and climbed up on the edge of the couch, settling carefully into Danno’s lap and then wrapping her arms around his neck as she looked searchingly into his eyes. “Okay?”

“Better than okay,” Danny said just a little gruffly, wrapping his arms around Grace. Grace smiled, laying her head on his shoulder and closing her eyes, and Danny smiled softly as he looked over at Steve. “Perfect, even.”

Steve returned the smile, impulsively reaching out to lay his hand on Danny’s thigh very gently, wanting to touch him but not wanting to disturb Grace. He was sad that they had lost a family member they both loved, but he couldn’t help being glad that Grace would be spending a whole week with them, finding her own place in their home and helping Steve get Danny settled in. He wanted to know things that Danny was sure to be reluctant to admit to, but Grace would be glad to help Steve make sure Danny felt at home quickly.

Grace smiled and snuggled closer to her Danno, then relaxed with a happy sigh as she murmured, “Yeah.”

Danny kissed Grace’s hair and then just held her close, gazing into Steve’s eyes and marveling a little at the love he saw so plainly there.

Just the day before Danny had been so sure that he would be alone forever in that dingy hell-hole of an apartment that was all he could afford on his salary while he was still helping to pay off his parents’ mortgage, but he didn’t feel that way anymore. He had doubted Steve’s love for weeks, and doubted _himself_ even more, but _Steve_ had never doubted that they were meant to be together. Steve knew Danny at his worst and had taken the brunt of his temper more times than Danny could count, but he was still there, unshakable in his faith in Danny and his trust that the love they had for each other would make everything else work out.

Steve loved Danny with the same single-minded intensity he devoted to everything that was important to him, and Danny finally understood that Steve would _literally_ do anything for him, and that nothing he did could change the simple fact that they were partners.

 

~*~

 

Steve shifted to settle a little more comfortably on the couch, half-listening to Mary and Catherine talking in the kitchen while he tried to be interested in the baseball game Danny was watching. The game was kind of boring to him – the score was two to nothing in favor of the Yankees in the bottom of the ninth, but the last score had happened in the first inning – so Mary and Catherine’s conversation was getting more and more interesting by the minute.

They were debating what to do next time Catherine had leave, and Mary was trying to talk Catherine into going club-hopping with her.  So far she didn’t seem to be having much luck, but Steve hoped that would change. Mary loved clubbing but hated to go alone, and she didn’t really have any local friends besides Kono so she had been spending a lot of time at home driving Steve crazy. Mary loved margaritas like Danny enjoyed a good cup of coffee in the morning, and for Mary the margarita was often followed by the uncontrollable urge to dance to whatever music was striking her fancy that particular night. Steve had tried hard not to complain, not even when Mary kept him awake half the night playing music or watching television, but if Catherine didn’t give in to Mary’s attempts at persuasion he fully intended to _beg_ her to take Mary out and help her meet someone she could party with.

Steve had already tried getting Kono to take Mary out with her to meet people, but Kono’s idea of a great night out was having a few beers on the beach by a bonfire with her surfing buddies, and the very _idea_ had made Mary declare Kono was no fun at all. Kono had suggested Mary going out clubbing with Kono’s cousins who were in college, but Mary refused to go unless Kono would go too so she would know _someone_ there. Kono hated college parties enough that none of the bribes Steve had yet offered her were enough to get her to go, so Mary was still hanging around the house almost every night, driving Steve nuts.

Danny moved his foot against Steve’s thigh, making Steve look at him quickly in surprise. Danny was sitting at the other end of the couch with his bad leg propped up on the cushions between them, and he looked amused as he murmured, “Did Mary _really_ just ask Cath to be her wingman so she could go get laid?”

Steve’s lips twitched as he tried not to laugh. “Yeah, she did. Mare hates going out alone in Waikiki. She says she feels like a tourist, even though she was born here.”

Danny smirked. “She _acts_ like a tourist. If I didn’t know she was your baby sister, I’d swear she was from L.A..”

“Yeah, I know,” Steve agreed, smiling. “She loves it there, and she’s gotten pretty entrenched into the whole party crowd thing.”

“I can believe it,” Danny agreed, still amused.

A door closed upstairs then and they both turned their heads to look towards the stairs as Grace ran down the hall and then hurried down the stairs, looking happy in her Spongebob pajamas with a thick fluffy towel wrapped around her head. She went straight to Steve’s end of the couch, and Danny moved his foot back to give her room to climb back into Steve’s lap as she asked, “Did I miss the end?”

Steve draped his arms loosely around Grace and tried to act like he wasn’t surprised she wanted him to cuddle her some more, even though he was. Grace had climbed into his lap after dinner and sat there while they watched Grace’s favorite movie this week, _Up_ , which Steve had been surprised to realize he enjoyed. Danny and Catherine had teased him about being like Dug, only instead of squirrels he was always looking for trouble. Steve didn’t think he was _nearly_ as bad as they made it sound, certainly not anything like Dug and his _imaginary_ squirrel, but from the way Grace and Mary had giggled over it he seemed to be the only one who thought that.

“Nope, you made it,” Danny told her, grinning at how surprised Steve was that she wanted him to cuddle her some more. “Barely. There’s two outs left in the game.”

Grace settled comfortably in Steve’s lap, taking for granted that he didn’t mind as she tugged the towel off of her hair and put it in her lap. She looked at the television for a moment or two and then back at Danny, surprised. “Nobody’s scored _at all_?”

“Not since you left,” Danny agreed. “It’s been a slow game. I think both teams are taking a night off.”

Grace made a face and muttered, “Well, at least it’s almost over.”

Steve bit back a laugh, giving her a gentle squeeze as he said, “My sentiments exactly, _kama lei_.”

Grace looked up at Steve. “You don’t like baseball?”

“Baseball’s fine,” Steve disagreed, “but _this_ _game_ is almost as bad as _golf_.”

Steve wasn’t actually a fan of baseball, but he had never minded watching the occasional game with someone who was, and he did enjoy watching a game with Danny, though mostly because he enjoyed watching Danny watch baseball. Danny loved the game with the kind of passion that only someone who had played the game seriously could muster, and Steve enjoyed listening to Danny’s running commentary on a good game. Danny had played baseball all through high school and into college while boxing in the off-season right up until he had blown his knee the first time and ended his ability to seriously compete in either event, but not being able to play any more hadn’t dimmed his love of either game.

“It wasn’t _that_ bad,” Danny protested with a soft laugh, even though he loved seeing the way Steve’s comment had made Grace giggle.

Steve looked over at him, amused. “Which is why you haven’t even _noticed_ the game is over.”

Danny looked at the television in surprise, seeing that the teams were lining up to shake hands, and then he looked back at Steve with a wry little grin. “Well, okay, maybe it _was_ kind of slow…”

Grace giggled. “Daddy, it was slow before I left to take my shower, and _nobody_ scored after that.”

“But _nine_ people walked,” Steve said, trying not to laugh at the way that made Grace stare at him.

“ _Nine_?” Grace repeated, wide-eyed.

“Unless I missed somebody, yeah,” Steve said, grinning.

“You did,” Danny admitted, trying not to be amused and failing.

Grace looked at Danny then, still wide-eyed as she asked, “Were the pitchers _asleep_?”

Danny couldn’t help it anymore, and he had to laugh. “Looked that way most of the game, yeah. It _was_ pretty slow.”

“And boring,” Steve added, giving Danny a little grin.

Danny snorted, amused. “And maybe a little boring,” he admitted. “I haven’t seen them play that bad in years.”

“Mommy thought they’re upset about last week,” Grace said then. “She let me watch the end of the first game last night and it wasn’t very good either. The Yankees won, but they didn’t try very hard and Mommy said it was because they’re still thinking about losing to the Red Sox.”

“Your mother says a lot of things,” Danny said, making a face at the reminder that Boston had beaten his beloved Yankees. “Sometimes she’s as bad as Tommy.”

“Daddy!” Grace protested, giggling. “You said not to _ever_ listen to Tommy!”

“Yeah, well, there’s some things you should never listen to your mom about, either,” Danny said, “starting with baseball.”

Grace looked surprised and curious, asking, “What else should I not listen to her about?”

Danny hesitated, finally realizing that he was heading into dangerous territory. If he started telling Grace all the things he thought Rachel was wrong about, it could get messy fast when she repeated what he had said to Rachel, as he was sure she would. Grace didn’t even consider hiding things from her parents, and the first time Rachel contradicted what Danny had told her, Grace would try to correct her. Grace did it to him with things Rachel had told her all the time.

“Your Danno’s job,” Steve said, not really surprised that Danny wasn’t sure what to say. Grace looked up at Steve, surprised, and Steve smiled at her as he added, “Your mom thinks it’s the most dangerous job ever, but it’s not.”

“Being a SEAL is,” Grace said, looking more serious. “Danno said so, and he would know.”

“Well, maybe not the _most_ dangerous ever, but certainly much more dangerous than what Danno does,” Steve agreed, smiling at Grace.

“And now he has you to help keep him safe,” Grace added seriously, “and you were a SEAL for _years_ so he’s a lot safer than he used to be when he was all alone.”

“I’d die to protect him,” Steve agreed simply, nodding.

“Steven, we’ve talked about that,” Danny said firmly, making Steve and Grace both look at him in surprise. “You’re not allowed to die unless I shoot you myself.”

Grace giggled. “Danno! You can’t shoot him, you _love_ him!”

“Sometimes I want to shoot him anyway,” Danny said, trying to look serious. “He pulls stupid stunts and risks his life all the time because he forgot how to get scared.”

“I get scared,” Steve corrected quietly, making Grace and Danny look back at him as he gazed into Danny’s eyes, suddenly serious. “I’m just not afraid of the things you think I should be.”

“What scares you?” Grace asked softly, looking up at Steve.

Steve dragged his attention away from Danny, to give Grace a wry little smile. “Thinking about losing your Danno or you because I did something wrong is pretty high on the list. I’m not very good at the whole having a family thing. It’s been a very long time since I had anyone but Cath and Mary.”

“You could never do something that bad,” Grace said confidently, giving Steve an encouraging smile. “ _Our_ Danno loves you almost as much as he loves me, and when Danno loves someone, it’s forever.”

Steve stared at her a moment and then looked at Danny, who smiled crookedly and added, “Even if you start seeing some rich guy behind my back, but I reserve the right not to _like_ you anymore if you marry him two weeks after our divorce is final and then move across the _world_ and take my baby girl with you.”

Steve reached his hand towards Danny, who took his hand and gave it a squeeze. “I will _never_ hurt you like that, Danno,” Steve promised quietly. “Rachel’s the stupidest woman I have ever met, to do something like that to you.” He remembered Grace was listening to every word he said then and looked at her as he added hastily, “Stupid about Danno, I mean, not about _everything_. Your mom’s a very smart lady about most things.”

“Mommy _was_ stupid about being married to Daddy,” Grace said quietly, serious and looking sad. “She broke our family because she thought she was in love with Step-Stan, but now they hardly even see each other. Danno says if you love someone enough to marry them you want to be with them all the time, even when they’re doing something boring like sleeping, but Mommy never goes with Step-Stan anymore even though I keep reminding her I could stay with Daddy while she’s gone.”

“You do want to be with the one you want to marry all the time,” Steve agreed, not commenting on Rachel anymore. “Or at least, _I_ do. Being away from Danno makes me feel like a part of _me_ is missing, and it is.” He smiled softly. “I gave him my heart a long time ago, and he takes it with him wherever he goes.”

“I feel the same way,” Grace said as she suddenly threw her arms around Steve’s neck and hugged him. Steve returned the hug, surprised, and then she pulled back to smile at him as she said, “I’m so glad you love Danno the same way. He needs you. You make him happy when Mommy won’t let me be with him.”

“Would you like it if your mom let you stay with Danno more than she does?” Steve asked carefully. The picture he was starting to get of Grace’s life with Rachel wasn’t quite what he had thought it was, and he was beginning to feel like Pat had the right idea when she threatened to help Danny get full custody.

Grace nodded. “I’ve been begging and begging to see Danno more, and she’s finally starting to listen to me. I’ve been extra special good and making good grades in school, and I even give Step-Stan hugs goodnight when he’s home without Mommy telling me to, even though I don’t really want to.”

Danny stifled a sigh and wished that Rachel would just drop it about making Grace hug Stan already, but he was sure it would never happen. Not until Rachel found her next husband, at least. He had noticed that Rachel was traveling with Stan much less than she used to, so it wasn’t completely unexpected to him that Grace was starting to think Rachel didn’t really love Stan. Danny was beginning to wonder if Rachel was capable of real love at all, but he had never said as much when he was anywhere near Grace. He knew that Rachel loved _Grace_ completely and selflessly, but she had fallen in and out of love with Danny in the space of a few years, and it seemed to him like she was doing the same thing again with Stan.

“Why don’t you want to hug Step-Stan?” Steve asked curiously, drawing Danny’s attention back to him.

Grace obviously had no problem with hugging Steve and had in fact been climbing all over him ever since Grace and Steve went swimming with Catherine before dinner, though Danny knew that at least part of that was because of his knee. He knew Grace was feeling a little fragile because of Nana’s death, no matter how normal she seemed, so he had expected her to want to be held. He just hadn’t expected her to be so willing to let Steve hold her instead of insisting on cuddling with Danny. It didn’t _bother_ him, but it had definitely surprised him. Grace usually didn’t like cuddling with anyone but her immediate family, but she had obviously decided that Steve was an exception to that for some reason Danny hadn’t quite figured out yet.

Grace shrugged and looked down, moving one hand to play with the edge of the towel in her lap, and Danny fought not to frown as he wondered if Grace would finally answer the question. He had been asking her that for months, but she never gave him a good answer. “Step-Stan thinks giving him hugs means I want something,” Grace murmured after a minute or so, still looking at her fingers. “He’s always asking if I want money or offering to buy me things and it makes me feel weird.”

Steve lifted one hand to tuck a stray wisp of Grace’s damp hair behind her ear, asking softly, “Have you ever been especially nice to him to get him to buy you something?”

Grace shook her head quickly and looked up to meet Steve’s gaze. “No! I don’t want him to buy me _anything_. He’s not my daddy and I _won’t_ call him that, no matter what he gets for me.”

“Grace, did Stanley try to _bribe you_ to call him Dad?” Danny asked, frowning. He had complained often that it seemed like Stan was trying to buy Grace’s love, but he hadn’t thought that _Grace_ knew that, or that Stan had been so stupid as to _say that_ to Grace. She was a very smart little girl who knew that money couldn’t buy love, and her reluctance to spend much time with Stan suddenly made a lot more sense to Danny.

Grace looked at Danny, biting her lip for a moment before she nodded. “He’s tried to a lot, like if he thinks of the right thing to buy then I’ll want him to be my daddy. Last time he was home he said he would get me my very own pony, but I still told him no. I want a pony, but not like that. It feels…” She paused, searching for the right word, and then finished softly, “wrong.”

“It _is_ kind of wrong for him to do that,” Steve said, drawing Grace’s attention back to him. “But Grace, Step-Stan may not know that. Does he have any family he close to? I know Danno hasn’t ever mentioned his family visiting.”

Grace blinked and thought about it, then said slowly, “I don’t _think_ so. Mommy told me that his parents and his older sister died in a car crash when he was little, and that he doesn’t speak to his mother’s family at all. His dad’s parents raised him, but they died a long time ago and he didn’t really have any other family he likes. I met one of the cousins while we still lived in New Jersey, but when Step-Stan got home and found Gregory having tea with me and Mommy he made Gregory leave and then told Mommy not to let him in the house again because he only wants to ask for money.”

Danny looked away for a moment, thinking that what Grace had just said explained a lot about Stan.

“I suspected as much,” Steve said. “Was he close to his parents like you’re close to Danno?”

“I don’t think so,” Grace said. “He doesn’t talk about them much, but when he does he tells me stories about his dad introducing him to important people while he went to some fancy boarding school in England where the people who rule the world all went to school.”

It was obvious to Danny that Grace was parroting what Stan had told her, and he had to work hard not to roll his eyes. It fit what he knew about Stan that he had such a high opinion of himself, even though he hadn’t _earned_ a penny of his money. Sure, Stan didn’t _lose_ a lot of money, so he must not be a complete idiot, but he was born filthy rich and Danny had never really had any use for someone that was born into more money than some _countries_ had and then tried to pretend they had worked for everything they had. As far as he was concerned, the closest Stan had ever come to working for a living was when he attended school, and even then he was sure Stan probably paid some poor dumb schmuck to do most of his homework.

“Well then, it sounds to me like maybe Stan is treating you the way his parents or grandparents treated him,” Steve pointed out gently. “If he doesn’t know that what they did to him is wrong, then it doesn’t really help to get upset with him for treating you the same way.”

Grace thought that over a minute and then said quietly, “ _Mommy_ knows better, though.”

Danny looked down, fighting the urge to say something scathing about Rachel’s tendency to try to buy her way out of a bad situation as he listened to Steve say, “Yeah, sweetheart, she does, but I think she loves Stan enough that she wants to make him happy, so she might not want to say anything to him that might upset him.”

“Like Daddy not wanting to tell you how much he hates it when you leave the driver’s seat set all the way back?” Grace asked, making Danny look up again, surprised. “He can’t reach the pedals at all where you put the seat when you drive.”

Steve laughed softly and nodded. “Kind of like that, yeah. Your mom is probably hoping that Step-Stan will learn from her and your Danno how he should treat you, just like I was hoping Danno would just stay with me so he wouldn’t have to worry about the seat anymore.”

“Hey now, wait a minute!” Danny said, trying not to laugh. “Just because I’m moving in does _not_ mean you always get to drive _my car_ , you control freak!”

Catherine and Mary started laughing in the kitchen as Steve gave Danny a wide-eyed, innocent look. “But you shouldn’t drive with your knee like it is.”

“Not _today_ , no, but as soon as my knee will allow it I intend to drive my car whenever I feel like it,” Danny said quickly, still kind of amused even though he was completely serious. “It is _my car_ , Steven, and I did _not_ buy it because I like _you_ driving it. I bought it because _I_ like to drive it.”

“Fast,” Grace added with a little giggle. Steve looked at her, amused, and she added, “Daddy likes to say he always obeys the speed limit, but sometimes he gets from work to Step-Stan’s house _awfully_ fast.”

Steve smirked at her and stage-whispered, “That’s not the only time he drives fast.”

Grace giggled at that, and Danny was about to lecture Steve about encouraging her when his cell phone suddenly began to play the Psycho theme. Danny had promised Grace that if she went up and took a shower and got ready for bed, she could stay up until Rachel called back or ten o’clock, but no later. She had tried to call Rachel over an hour earlier, but the call had gone straight to voicemail.

“Can I answer it, Danno?” Grace asked quickly, squirming down out of Steve’s lap to move towards where Danny’s phone was on the end table, plugged in again to finish charging.

“Go ahead,” Danny agreed, smiling at Grace. “And take it upstairs with you. I’ll be up in a few minutes to tuck you in, okay?”

“Okay!” Grace agreed, unplugging Danny’s cell phone. She pushed the button to accept the call and then put the phone to her ear as she started quickly towards the stairs. “Hi, Mommy! Daddy said you were supposed to land soon, and I knew you’d call back when you could.” She fell silent a moment as she crossed the room and then she was trotting up the stairs quickly as she said, “We did and I had so much fun! Steve and Aunt Cath and I went swimming, and Danno sat on the _lanai_ with Aunt Mary and they cleaned the shrimps for dinner so Steve and I could cook when we got done swimming. Steve knows how to swim just like a _dolphin_ and can hold his breath almost forever!”

Danny chuckled softly and looked at Steve, who was smiling and looked amused. Danny just gazed into Steve’s eyes for a few moments, waiting until he heard Grace’s door close before he murmured, “Told you she’d love you, babe.”

Steve smiled as he murmured, “Yeah, you did.” He moved towards Danny suddenly to put one knee on the couch against Danny’s thigh, bracing one hand on the back of the couch and the other on Danny’s shoulder as he whispered, “I’ve wanted to do this for _hours_.”

Steve kissed Danny without giving him a chance to respond, and Danny hummed happily as he lifted his hands to reach for Steve, one hand tangling in the short curls on the nape of Steve’s neck to keep him close as his other hand moved to Steve’s side and then slid around to his back, urging him closer. Steve didn’t hesitate, moving to put his other knee on the couch as he moved his hands to Danny’s sides, glad to take advantage of a chance to make out a little bit. It wasn’t something they had really done very much of, and Steve wanted to explore the possibilities a little even though he respected Danny’s choice to wait until Grace wasn’t there before they did anything more serious.

One of Danny’s hands had just slid down to cup Steve’s ass a few minutes later when Mary suddenly said, “God, get a _room_.”

Danny flushed and pulled away, looking embarrassed as Steve turned his head towards the kitchen to give Mary a dirty look. “You keep saying it’s my house, so this _is_ my room.”

“And there’s a little girl who could come running downstairs any minute,” Mary countered, walking into the living room to flop in the chair she had staked a claim on as being hers. “If I can’t have any fun while she’s here, neither can you.”

“You can’t have any fun because you won’t go out and _meet people_ ,” Steve pointed out.

“Which is why your fiancé declared no one in this house gets to have any fun this week,” Mary said sarcastically, looking amused.

Catherine laughed softly and sat down in the other chair. ” _Including_ _them_ , Mare. That’s why Steve doesn’t want to make out safely in private. He might forget himself if he’s not worrying about his little sister seeing too much.”

Mary laughed. “Seriously?”

Catherine nodded, amused. “He can’t resist Danny, not even if Danny asks him to.”

Steve felt his face heating up as he moved off of Danny’s knee, standing up as he decided retreat might be the better part of valor. “Are you going to let me carry you upstairs, or be stubborn about it?”

Danny just looked up at Steve a moment, still blushing slightly, and then he finally sighed. “We’ll do it your way, babe.”

“Thank you,” Steve murmured, leaning down to kiss Danny softly and then scooping him up into his arms to settle Danny against his chest before Danny could rethink the idea.

Danny winced at the sudden movement but he didn’t protest, putting his arms loosely around Steve’s neck to hold on as he asked, “What, you’re not throwing me over your shoulder like a Neanderthal?”

Steve started towards the stairs, not looking at Danny as he replied, “It hurt you more that way than it did when I carried you like this earlier.”

“I kind of hoped you hadn’t realized that,” Danny murmured, moving one hand to toy with the curls at the nape of Steve’s neck.

“I know,” Steve agreed quietly, glancing at Danny with a slight smile before he put his attention to the stairs as he climbed them. He hoped that Mary wouldn’t say anything to embarrass Danny this time, and thought that maybe he could count on that. Catherine had told him she had a long talk with Mary while Steve and Danny were gone to pick up Grace, and Mary had been treating Danny like one of _her_ friends since they got home, not like Danny was just _Steve’s_ friend, so he hoped that she wouldn’t embarrass Danny so much anymore. Most things Danny could take being teased about, but there were a few things that got under his skin, and Mary seemed to have a knack for finding them.

Danny tugged gently on Steve’s hair when they got to the top of the stairs, murmuring softly, “Put me down, babe. I can walk from here.”

“I know you can,” Steve agreed, continuing towards the open door of Grace’s new bedroom without even pausing. He could hear her talking animatedly to Rachel still, but he hoped she would be through soon so Danny could tuck her in and go to bed. Danny had been trying hard to act like he was fine, but every time Steve looked into his eyes he could see that Danny needed to take a couple of pain pills and get some rest.

Danny’s face flushed with embarrassment again as Steve got closer to Grace’s room and he scowled at Steve, whispering fiercely, “ _Now_ , Steven.”

Steve stopped and looked at Danny, surprised and frowning as he said quietly, “Grace will feel better if she sees you didn’t have to _walk_ up here to say good night.”

Danny blinked, surprised for a moment before he looked towards the sound of Grace’s voice. It only took him a moment to realize Steve was right, and he looked back at Steve as he sighed. “Okay.”

Steve kissed him very softly and then whispered, “She won’t think less of you, Danno.”

Danny looked at Steve, seeing how calm and sure he was, and then he smiled. “What’re you waiting for, then?”

Steve smiled, pleased that Danny agreed with him as he started towards Grace’s room again.

Grace looked up as Steve moved carefully through the doorway, beaming suddenly as she moved the phone away from her mouth. “I’m glad Daddy has you, Steve. He never would have let _me_ help him get up here.”

Steve moved to put Danny down on Grace’s bed and then grinned at her, pleased with himself. “He doesn’t like letting me help either, but he hasn’t got the energy to argue with me right now.”

“Because you’re more stubborn than any mule,” Danny said quickly, trying to scowl at Steve even though he wanted to laugh. “Arguing doesn’t do me any good!”

Grace giggled and then got distracted by something Rachel said, looking down as she put the phone back by her mouth. “Yes, Mommy, they’re both here. Daddy just came in with Steve to read to me before bed.” She listened to Rachel a few moments and then smiled. “I love you too. I’ll call tomorrow, I promise.” She paused again and then rolled her eyes and said, “I _will_ , I already _promised_!” She smiled again then. “Good night, Mommy.” She hung up then, closing the phone and then offering it to Danny. “Mommy said to thank you for letting me stay up until she could call back, but not to let me do it anymore. I’m supposed to call her at eight-thirty from now on, not wait until bedtime.”

Danny snorted, accepting his phone and then tucking it into the pocket of his sweats. “It wouldn’t have done any good to call her then, she was on a plane at thirty thousand feet.”

Grace gave him a tolerant look, amused. “She won’t be on a plane _tomorrow_ , Danno. Mommy said it’ll be morning in London then so she can be sure to answer when I call.”

“Yeah, yeah, okay,” Danny agreed. “I don’t mind you calling her at eight-thirty. You can just take your shower and get ready for bed afterwards.” He shook a finger at her, scolding teasingly, “But there will be no begging to take an hour-long bubble-bath after you tell your mother good night, do you hear me?”

Grace giggled and nodded. “Yes, Danno.” She changed the subject suddenly, looking hopeful as she asked, “You _are_ going to read to me, right?”

Danny looked pointedly at the digital clock on the dresser next to the books Grace had brought with her for the week, and then he looked back at Grace. “It’s almost an hour after your bedtime, and you have school in the morning.”

“Pleeease, Danno?” Grace begged, folding her hands in front of her. “Just one chapter? I want to know what happens to Buttercup next!”

Danny had to grin at that. “You know what happens next, you’ve seen the movie a dozen times!”

“Yes, but the book has been _different_!” Grace countered quickly. “There’s already been lots of things that aren’t in the movie and we’ve just gotten started good.”

Danny was about to tell her she could always read it on her own when Steve said teasingly, “Go ahead and read it to her, Danno. One chapter won’t take _that_ long.”

Danny looked up at Steve, trying not to laugh at how comfortable Steve looked lounging against the doorjamb. “Don’t you have anything better to do than help her try to stay up another half-hour?”

Steve smiled, wide and pleased. “Nope.”

Grace beamed and scooted over on the big bed that she would be sleeping in until Steve and Danny had time to get her a more suitable one, then patted the covers next to her. “Come sit by me, Steve, then you can listen too! Danno’s the _best_ at reading a story.”

“Thank you, Grace,” Steve said, smiling even wider as he pushed off away from the doorjamb he had been leaning against and moved around the bed. He was about to sit down when he realized Danny shouldn’t be getting up to get the book, and he looked at Grace as he stepped towards the dresser. “Which book was it?”

“ _The Princess Bride_ ,” Grace said quickly, beaming. “It’s one of my favorite movies, but the book’s even better.”

“Oh yeah,” Steve said, laughing slightly as he scanned the spines of the books Grace had brought and picked out _The Princess Bride_. He turned back to the bed with the book, offering it to Danny and then smiling at Grace as he sat down next to her. “That is a fun one. I remember Mom reading it to me several times when I was a kid.” His smile grew a bit crooked as he added, “I read it over and over again after she was gone because I could still almost hear her voice when I did.”

“Who was your favorite character?” Grace asked, bright-eyed and curious. “My favorite is Westley. He reminds me of Danno.”

Steve smiled, not looking at Danny as he said, “Mom always said I reminded her of Westley, but I think you’re right, he’s much more like Danno. They’re both blond and have blue eyes, and I’ve got dark hair like Inigo.”

Grace giggled. “I don’t think Danno’s like Westley because of how he _looks_ , silly, it’s how they _act_!”

Steve grinned a little wider at Grace and asked innocently, “So you don’t think Danno’s the most handsome man you’ve seen? Or is he just too short to be the Dread Pirate Roberts?”

“Hey now!” Danny said, trying not to laugh as he kicked at Steve’s ankle with his good leg. “You’re just _begging_ to sleep on the couch, Steven.”

Grace giggled as Steve looked at Danny and said reasonably, “But I can’t, that’s where Cath is sleeping.”

“Then you can sleep in the _floor_ somewhere,” Danny said quickly, trying hard to scowl at Steve even though he was amused. “One more crack about me not being tall enough or handsome enough to be Westley, and you’re gonna be in the doghouse for at _least_ a week!”

Steve laughed. “But I never said _I_ think that to begin with! I was asking if that’s what _Grace_ thinks.” He grinned widely at Danny adding, “It’s pretty plain what _my_ opinion of you is, Danno. I’ve never asked anyone else to marry me.”

Grace beamed. “You asked Danno to marry you already?”

Steve looked at Grace, still grinning as he nodded. “I sure did. The governor told me she thinks it will be voted in here in another year or so, so I’ve got time to convince him to say yes.”

“He didn’t?!” Grace asked, shocked. She looked at Danny. “He asked you to marry him and you didn’t even _answer_ him, Daddy?”

Danny laughed slightly, surprised at the sudden turn of the conversation. “I didn’t get a chance to, but quit changing the subject. We were talking about Westley and how I’m not cute enough to be like him.”

“Danno, you really should have a higher opinion of yourself,” Steve said, trying hard to be serious even though he kind of wanted to grin from ear to ear.

“But you _will_ say yes,” Grace added, still looking at Danny. “I mean, you _said_ you love him like people who get married.”

“Yes, I’m going to say yes, okay?” Danny said, getting kind of exasperated. “And I have a very good opinion of myself, Steven. _You_ _were_ the one talking about me being too _short_ and not handsome enough!”

“Well, Danno, you are kind of short,” Grace said then, looking apologetic. “Steve doesn’t seem to mind though.” She looked at Steve. “Right?”

“Right,” Steve agreed, winking at Grace. “I love Danno just like he is.”

Grace looked back at Danny, beaming. “See? He loves you like you are, Danno.” She brightened even more. “Like the way you _always_ get the little bitty candy bars because you like them better. You’re fun-sized!”

Steve looked away, biting his lip. He would be _dead_ if he had called Danny fun-sized, but he was sure his life expectancy wasn’t particularly long if he _laughed_ either.

Danny gaped at Grace for a moment and then glared at Steve, who wasn’t nearly as good at hiding his mirth as he thought he was. “I’m not sure how you got her to call me _fun-sized_ , Steven, but I am _not amused_.”

“Me?!” Steve blurted, still fighting hard not to laugh. “How can that possibly be my fault?! I said I love you just like you are! I didn’t even _mention_ candy!”

“Boys!” Catherine said then, moving into the doorway and trying to scowl even though her eyes were sparkling with laughter. “I know a little girl who has school tomorrow, and she’s never going to go to sleep with you two _arguing_ _in her bed_!”

Danny looked over his shoulder at Catherine and then at the clock before he gave Steve a dirty look. “Are you happy now? It’s fifteen minutes after ten, she should have been asleep over an hour ago!”

Steve rolled his eyes. “So start reading! You promised us a chapter.” He looked at Grace. “Didn’t he, Gracie?”

Grace nodded quickly, looking at Danny and trying very hard to give him puppy dog eyes even though she was still fighting back giggles. “Please, Danno?”

Steve leaned down next to Grace, giving Danny his best pleading expression. “Pretty please?”

Danny snorted, giving them both a dirty look. “You’re incorrigible, the both of you.”

“Is that a yes, Danno?” Grace asked hopefully.

“Only if you two settle down and let me read in peace,” Danny said quickly, scowling at Steve and Grace even though he kind of wanted to laugh again at how adorable they were together.

Grace nodded quickly and squirmed around under her covers, laying down and then giving Danny her best innocent angel expression. “We’ll be quiet as church mice.”

Steve settled comfortably back against the headboard, grinning at Danny. “Definitely.”

Danny let out a little huff and opened the book, then remembered Catherine and looked over his shoulder at her. “You gonna stay?”

“What are you reading?” Catherine asked, amused.

“ _The Princess Bride_ ,” Steve said, grinning wider because he knew how much she loved the movie.

Catherine laughed and moved into the room. “Okay, sure.”

Grace giggled, scooting closer to Steve to make room next to her on the other side as she patted the bed. “Come on, Aunt Cath, there’s plenty of room.”

Catherine walked over to sit next to Grace, leaning down to kiss her forehead lightly before she gave her a warm smile. “As you wish.”

Grace giggled, beaming as she looked back at Danny hopefully.

Danny just took in how comfortable and happy Grace looked laying there between Steve and Catherine for a moment, then smiled as he looked down and found the bookmark he’d left Friday night. “We didn’t actually _finish_ chapter five because it’s a really long one, we just finished the first section of it, which was called ‘ _The Announcement’_. The next part is called ‘ _Inigo_ ’.” He glanced at Grace, Steve, and Catherine to be sure they were listening and then looked back down and began to read. “ _In the mountains of Central Spain, set high in the hills above Toledo, was the village of Arabella. It was very small and the air was always clear. That was all you could say that was good about Arabella: terrific air—you could see for miles._ ” He let out a little huff of a laugh. “Sounds like Hawai’i.”

Steve snorted at that, making Catherine and Grace giggle, but Danny didn’t look up even though he smirked slightly.

“ _But there was no work,_ ” Danny read, easily falling into the right sort of tone to tell the story in. “ _The dogs overran the streets and there was never enough food. The air, clear enough, was also too hot in daylight, freezing at night. As to Inigo's personal life, he always just a trifle hungry, he had no brothers or sisters, and his mother had died in childbirth._

_“He was fantastically happy._

_“Because of his father. Domingo Montoya was funny-looking and crotchety and impatient and absent-minded and never smiled._

_“Inigo loved him. Totally. Don't ask why. There really wasn't any one reason you could put your finger on.”_

Danny glanced up, and the gentle, loving expression in Steve’s eyes made his own smile soften. He just gazed into Steve’s eyes for a long moment before he remembered he was supposed to be reading and looked back down to go on.

“ _Oh, probably Domingo loved him back, but love is many things, none of them logical._ ”

 

~ End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quoted text is from the ebook version of _The Princess Bride_ by William Golding.
> 
> And this is really done this time. I think. Maybe. ... I hope. ;-D


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